The Bathroom Issue
School Culture - Feature Report
Marlena Niedzwiecki & Sebastian Colon | Staff Reporters | January 25, 2020
ORANGE - This school year the student bathrooms have been misused, vandalized, and treated with overall disrespect. This has been especially true for the girls bathrooms. Because of these issues, many of the girls bathrooms have been closed off. There have been issues where there is no toilet paper in any of the stalls because people soak it with water and paper mache it on the walls (along with hall passes). Because of the closed bathrooms, there are long lines that lead outside of the bathrooms and into the halls. These lines ultimately lead to people being late to class or missing a good amount of class time to use the bathrooms.
The Mahar bathrooms have always had issues with vandalism. From graffiti on the stalls with sharpie to paper mache toilet paper on the walls. Lately, however, the vandalism has been the worst it has ever been. There is a group who will do anything they wish to the bathrooms and expect no consequences. The amount of disrespect to the bathrooms and subsequently the rest of the student body has become overwhelming.
A huge issue that is caused by the bathroom dilemma is that students (mainly girls), have to wait in long lines during class and also the passing period due to the fact that there is only one available for the male and female bathrooms in the middle school and high school. Sometimes, the lines get so long that they lead into the hallway. We all have lost the privilege to use the majority of the school bathrooms because people use them to Juul (vape) and and to just make a mess of the bathrooms.
A student that expresses her concerns about the student’s bathrooms, Megan Ward shares her story. There was an occasion where she went to the bathroom but there were already about 10 people waiting to use the singular stall that was available in that bathroom. She had been waiting for so long she decided to go back to her teacher and let them know she was going to find a janitor to get a roll of toilet paper so more than one stall could be used at a time. She went to the office to let them know they needed a janitor for toilet paper and headed back to the bathroom where there were still people waiting and even more people were coming to use the bathroom. Minutes later, one of the hall monitors came into the girls bathroom wondering why there were so many of them in there, not realizing they were all in there just to use the bathroom.
Another student reports that they don't feel comfortable using the binary bathrooms. Since the gender neutral bathroom is closed they feel judged and unsafe using the binary bathrooms. That person feels like they get dirty looks from whichever bathroom they go into which does not make them feel accepted. They now choose to not use the bathrooms at school and just wait until they get home to relieve themself.
Due to these issues, new precautions have been discussed and were put to the test after winter break. There was an opportunity for teachers to stand watch outside the bathrooms during their free period to stop reckless behavior. There was also a limit for 2-3 people allowed in the bathrooms at once. The administration has tried their hardest to prevent the issues that have been happening in the school. They have been doing their best to stop this from happening for years, but they can only do so much.
The student body has become the enemy to itself. Only the student body can stop these actions that are being committed and prove to the administration that they are mature enough to use the bathrooms during passing time, class, and lunch. Part of the student body has been acting childish, and it has been reflected upon the student body as a whole. The only way for the administration to reopen the bathrooms is for the students to change their actions. Be respectful of the bathrooms and the janitors that clean them. Stop Juuling in the bathrooms. It’s disrespectful to other students and to the faculty and administration.