MT principal removes stall doors to stem graffiti

KALISPELL, Mont. – After several failed attempts to deter graffiti in the girls' bathroom at an elementary school in northwestern Montana, the principal threatened to take the doors off the stalls. And then he did it.

Justin Barnes tells the Daily Inter Lake he'll do it again, if the graffiti returns.

Parents of Marion School students complained at a board meeting Wednesday night that the tactic violated their children's right to privacy. The door was left on one stall in both the boys' and girls' bathrooms.

Barnes acknowledged he should have written to parents to notify them of his ultimatum.

He told students they could have the doors back if they could go for a week without vandalizing the bathrooms. The doors were returned Monday, two weeks after they were taken down.

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Information from: Daily Inter Lake, http://www.dailyinterlake.com