Bathrooms closed for business;

     “People know right from wrong. I think I’d know if tearing a pipe out of the wall would be wrong, so they know what they’re doing. It’s stupid, they know vandalization and breaking sinks and pulling pipes from the walls is not okay,” says junior Dahlia Neiser. 

     According to Assistant Principal Erin Mock, the school bathrooms were shut down because they were “continuing to be vandalized via pipes [being] broken, sinks [being] broken, [and] flooding of water on floors.” Mock states that thus far, this has been effective. 

     Since the restrooms have closed, the assistant principal claims, there “hasn’t been any vandalism in the bathrooms that are open.” She adds that there are also “less kids cutting class because there’s not as many places for them to go,” and that overall, they have “seen a positive effect.” 

     Junior Sierra McManus strongly disagrees with the closing of the bathrooms. The junior believes that students should not be refined to “five stalls” for approximately “700 girls” and “same with the boys.” She says that this lack of space is simply “not gonna work” with the large population of the school.  

     Junior Ian Calhoun is also greatly angered by the closing of the restrooms. He states that “sometimes [he has] to [use the washroom] and [he] can’t do that when the bathrooms are closed just because some people don’t know how to use a toilet properly.” 

     Neiser responded to the situation in a similar manner. She says finding out the lavatories were shut down “ticked [her] off” because “the boys were taking pipes out of the wall and doing crazy stuff,” whereas “girls were putting up encouraging notes.” 

     Although these students had the same reaction, Mock admits that she hasn’t had many parent complaints about the restrooms. She recognizes that kids “get frustrated”, but she reminds them that the “auditorium bathrooms are always wide open.” 

     The junior believes that the school should not close the girls’ lavatories. According to Neiser, she would “understand if the girls were ruining things,” but she claims that they were not. While she disagrees with shut down, she is unsure of an effective compromise that promotes the safety, as well as small freedom of students. 

     However, McManus has a set plan in mind to advertise to the administration, in which they have “a serious discussion with students who are vandalizing the bathrooms.” Despite being uncertain of how to obtain the names of these students, McManus is “sure there are ways” and believes the school is “letting it fall behind because […] there’s other issues going on, but [she thinks they] need to figure out who’s doing [it] because they’re ruining it for the rest of [them].” 

     Mock informs students that they can gain the usage of the space back. She says that if we “continue to not have any vandalism in our bathrooms that are open up to the holiday,” then they are considering “opening up at least the lunchroom bathrooms […] right after the holidays.” 

     The assistant principal adds that after these restrooms open, “possibly the science bathrooms” will open as well. However, the P.E. lavatories will most likely remain closed, according to Mock. She cautions students that “as [they] open them up, if things happen to them, they’re going to close right back down.” 

     Calhoun and Neiser agree that it’s difficult to limit vandalism on school property. According to Calhoun, the “limited staff” heavily increases the amount of vandalism seen in the school. Neiser adds that this destruction of the school environment is “inevitable” with “high school culture” because people “don’t care.” 

     The issue of a crowded school with a low population of teachers can be solved, says Calhoun, by extending hall duty to “being part of protecting the bathrooms.” The junior notes that, since there’s not much to be done about the vandalism currently, he can see “why they would close them.” 

     McManus emphasizes the major negative effect of vandalism, which is that it’s “disrespectful.” She states that people “work hard to keep the school clean […] and maintain a good environment in our school.”  

     When students take advantage of a space where “people go to either collect themselves or just use the bathroom”, great amounts of rudeness are exemplified, says the junior. McManus also believes that this is why the administration is trying so hard to keep it out of our school.  

     Mock informs those who are experiencing medical emergencies to go to “the school nurse.” She says that this is “the first outlet for them to go to.”  

     Mock acknowledges that the nurse is occasionally unavailable to students, so she would advise these students to utilize the “media center” because there’s “two bathrooms in there.”