The problem with the school bathrooms

Art by Abel Finch Smith

Whether a toilet or soap is missing, a fire extinguisher in a urinal, or a crowd of students vaping, the school bathrooms are a vicious disease at our school with new symptoms popping up every day. While a few years ago it was the devious lick trend, today the biggest issue is vaping. Additionally, people are noticing an increase in restrictive policies regarding students' access to bathrooms. To get to the bottom of this, I talked to a member of campus security, Miss Lilliana to figure out what exactly these policies are, why they are needed, and if they are the best solution to our problems.

“The new system works better and there are fewer people going, unfortunately,  we know that the people going to [vape] are the same few people,” says Lilliana. She claims when implemented correctly, the system works: vaping is going down. This is most clear in the girls' restrooms since the boys’ restroom needs more men to enforce than the school can provide. The system is only effective in boys' bathrooms when one of our few male supervisors is present, which is not often. One key issue is the long lines during passing periods; Lilianna explains that lines during passing periods are simply because that's the time students are most likely to go. This is good as it results in less precious class time being lost, but it causes some trouble when combined with another issue, staffing. Low numbers mean the school has to close most bathrooms they don’t have the manpower to supervise. The cafeteria bathroom never closes for staffing, rarely closing at all; when it is closed it's due to falling old plumbing or it being unsafe due to the sheer quantity of vape fumes (she did not mention it at the time but they do close all bathrooms for the first and last 10 minutes of class). Another reason lines form is unnecessary loitering from students in the restroom. You will often find a group of people meandering around in the restrooms blocking access to toilets, sinks, and blow driers. Liliana says that, while not all supervisors are strict about this, if she sees people chilling out in the bathroom, she tells them to get out and sees to it that they do. Overall, Lilliana cites some success in this new system; noticing fewer people in the bathrooms during class, which she attributes to increased supervision. However, she notes that there may still be students just walking around, saying it's hard to catch someone in the act since they can lie about how long they’ve been out. She wishes teachers would be more strict about having their students fill out the bathroom pass but she understands the difficulties that can come with that.

What do the students think about all this? One student, Senior Sasha Bercovici, has mixed feelings. While he finds vaping and crowds of people in the restroom to be annoying, nothing is as bad to him as a closed restroom. He finds supervisors outside the restroom, such as Mr. Steinorth at lunch, to be effective but understands its limits. Overall, he says “ I just want to use the restroom in peace.” Other students, Seniors Vivienne Freeman and Romy Griego, also felt strongly about the new policy, saying the policy is kind of cruel, hurting the people just needing to use the restroom and making it hard for us to exercise a necessary bodily function. Romy also says that it is a bit of a weak excuse to blame it on vaping when they might vape anyway and Vivienne added that she is concerned that causing problems for non-vapers might cause them to outcast the people vaping under the pretense that they are causing problems. This is not good for anybody, she says, especially for people who already might need help seeing that they feel the need to vape at school which is probably a sign of an underlying problem. 

The policy has its merits, but it has undeniable issues. I would argue, however, that the severity of long bathroom lines pales in comparison to the consequences of vaping. The good outweighs the bad. I spoke with a student who vapes and asked to remain anonymous, and he shared his experiences of trying to quit. He conceded that a supervisor monitoring restrooms prevents him from vaping, but says it is not the reason he decided to quit. Others just vape in a bathroom that isn’t monitored or monitored by a woman who can’t step in to stop it. 

My opinion is that all in all, it is an effective policy and is reducing vaping, but I recognize its faults. Low staff numbers, particularly male supervisors, lead to easy loopholes and punish students engaging in a basic human necessity. I hope, aside from large expensive solutions: such as hiring more people, smaller immediate changes can be made to optimize this system. One policy with room for improvement is the closing of bathrooms in the first and last 10 minutes of class. While I understand its reasons, I believe at least one restroom should be open at all times. Even if you could hold it for a few minutes it is somewhat cruel to deny someone who needs to go to the restroom their bodily function. I am hopeful that the school will continue to find some ballance in dealing with this complicated and important issue.