VANCOUVER, Wash. -- Vandals broke 16 windows at Heritage High School in Vancouver over the weekend, forcing the district to put money into costly repairs.

School officials said it’s frustrating to have to take money that should be spent in the classrooms and use it to deal with vandalism.

"It of course takes our resources and time to make the repairs and it's wasting taxpayer dollars when this damage occurs, which is bad because it takes money out of our educational coffers to pay for the vandalism that's going on," said Scott Deutsch, Risk and Safety Manager for the Vancouver School District.

A teacher working to clear out his classroom told KGW he’s concerned that vandals could also get in through the broken windows and steal items from inside the classrooms, some of which were his own personal items.