This year, a major change for the school has been the color zoned bathrooms. This decision has come with both praise and some frustration from different members of the North Harford High School community.
Art teacher Mr. Jason Blevins had nothing but good things to say about the new bathroom system. “I think, whether students like it or not, it has helped with hall traffic and with what I call the ‘clown car scenario,’ where you fit a million people into that bathroom at any time, at any given time of the day,” said the educator. “Those kids are spending a large portion of their school day in that bathroom, not in class.” Blevins believes this system makes kids only use the bathroom closest to the class they’re in, instead of allowing them to wander the hallways during class.
Student resource officer Deputy Amy Caviston agrees and says, “From what I have heard, it seems as though the bathroom changes have helped keep the hallways clear of kids walking aimlessly around.”
Meanwhile, junior Mariah Messick says this new system causes the bathrooms to “get overcrowded, and then you just have to wait and it takes longer, in my opinion.” Messick also says that she “thinks the bathroom monitors are a good idea, so I think that as long as they’re doing their job, it should be fine.”
Senior Kayla Doll adds, “I feel like it’s stupid and it looks like we’re in elementary school.” She also says she’s “confused as to why they added it.”
With regard to how the new system can be improved, science teacher Mr. Michael Knoll says “class change time is still an issue in the bathrooms. I don’t know the answer to that because there isn’t the staffing to monitor that during that change time.”
This system has potential as well as problems that could be solved, all of which are being used to solve the problem of overcrowded bathrooms, specifically during class time.
