ARK CITY, Kansas, May 12, 2008 – Teachers and students returned to three Ark City Elementary schools Monday to find them in much different shape than they left them Friday.

Frances Willard, Jefferson and Adams Elementary Schools were all targeted by burglars over the weekend.

"It appears that whoever entered the building knocked out the air conditioning and heating unit, and then gained access in the hole that was created,” said Frances Willard principal Jeff Shearon.

The district allowed Shearon to give KSN a tour of his school, which appears to have sustained mostly vandalism damage.

"They had knocked out windows in this particular door that gained access into the office over here,” Shearon said.

As of late Monday, the district and police were still compiling a list of items taken. Earlier in the day, authorities said some computers had been taken.

The burglars’ work was apparently made lots easier by the fact that many of the districts’ schools are over 50 years old. A lack of school security is one of the big reasons why Cowley County voters passed a $36 million dollar bond issue in March.

“This bond issue will provide us the funds to incorporate security technology, video cameras, an automated lock down system, those types of things to protect our kids when they're in school, and also on the weekends,” said USD 470 spokesperson Alisha Call.

Call says the money will be available soon and hopefully the improved security will be installed by next school year.