Students have seven minutes to get to class and take a restroom break. However, SOMETIMES the only restroom open is on the opposite side of the building. This creates a major complication due to the fact that students can get caught in tardy sweeps and sent to the Little Theatre.

Students should be able to access restrooms nearest to them easily, instead of running around the whole school just to find one!

On top of the restrooms being locked, the only ones available get trashed and wrecked by students. This overflow of students using one restroom creates an even bigger mess for the janitors to clean. A student showed me a video he took of the boy’s restroom trashed with chip bags, drinks, and toilet paper on the floor and even lined on the walls. It is disgusting that these are the restrooms we have to use every day. 

Along with the mess, I have noticed a pattern in a few of the restrooms I have walked past. The boys’ restroom is left wide open, whereas the girls’ restroom is locked. I am not sure which one is less fair, the fact that the boys get no privacy or that girls cannot go in the restroom to attend to their needs. I always half expect the restroom to be open (seeing as the boys are), so when it isn’t, I usually just give up.

Supplies necessary in restrooms, such as toilet paper, soap, and even water aren’t available sometimes. It is extremely unsanitary and germs can spread easily because of it. One time in the restroom, I was putting soap on my hands when a girl told me there was no water. I thought she was bluffing until I tried turning the sink on and nothing came out (thankfully I had hand sanitizer on deck). These restrooms need to be checked and resupplied frequently to ensure that students have the resources they need. 

Locked, messy, and unequipped restrooms are things that none of us should have to experience. We all have a right to use the restroom whenever we feel like it and that is something no one can take from us. I don’t want to go around the whole school to find a restroom just as much as you don’t! Also, no one wants to use a restroom with trash all over the place and no supplies.

The administration needs to keep these restrooms open to ensure that students can get to class on time and use clean, supplied restrooms.

Winfridah Machogu

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