Over winter break, Westford Academy removed the main doors to all the boys’ bathrooms around the school.  The decision to remove the doors came after multiple reports of vandalism, vaping, and other inappropriate activities were found to be taking place within the facilities.

“There’s a lot of inappropriate activity going on in our bathrooms. [We were] constantly locking different ones due to some immature graffiti that [which was] becoming a real problem, which isn’t Westford Academy,” said Dean Bob Ware.

Graffiti, one of the biggest problems coming from the bathrooms, was becoming a consistent nuisance, forcing the janitorial staff to spend time cleaning off the mess.

“Our custodians [week in] and week out had to spend hours on removing the graffiti. It’s inappropriate, it’s wrong, and it’s immature,” Ware said.

Despite the removal of the doors, inappropriate activity still appears to be apparent within the stalls.

“I was just in the bathroom of that English hallway, and that bathroom always has applesauce covering the walls and ceiling. Before the doors were taken off, and now after the doors have been taken off. It’s still a problem,” said senior Nicholas Quattrocchi.

Though the removal of the doors appears to be meant as a deterrent, it is yet to be seen whether or not it will improve behavior. Until the situation in the bathrooms gets better, and WA no longer suffers these problems, the doors are expected to remain removed.