When nature calls, you’d be lucky to find a school bathroom that’s open. Even then, more obstacles await. You have to check to make sure everything is in stock from toilet paper and seat covers to even soap. And just when you think you’ve located everything, you realize there are no more paper towels.
Usually when bathrooms run out of supplies, many students find a way to adjust by using toilet seat covers or even paper towels as makeshift toilet paper.
But since one or two months ago, it seems as if the bathroom suddenly ran out of all these things. “You sometimes don’t know what to expect when walking into a bathroom. It’s just like a guessing game,” said junior Stephanie Aguilar.
But the bathrooms are closed for a reason. “They’re closed when the walls are being painted over because of all the graffiti,” says Mr. Lemus, the plant manager. “We’ve had cases in which students would unknowingly lean against the wet paint. We have to close the bathrooms to prevent this from happening.” When a professional painter is called in, the bathroom is closed for the entire day. Although students complain about this, it is partly their fault for vandalizing the walls.
Also, there are no substitutes for custodians on furlough days or when they call in sick. On furlough days, which take place once or twice a month, the custodians receive no pay. That means that if the custodians do not show up, there is no one else to restock bathroom supplies or clean the bathrooms for that day. Budget cuts are also making it more difficult to keep more custodians at school, slowing down the work pace in restocking and cleaning the bathrooms.
There was a short period of the semester when the bathrooms were clean and continually restocked. When the Swine Flu outbreak was at its peak, the bathrooms were always kept clean and stocked to make sure hygiene would not be an issue. However, this “luxury” faded away as the H1N1 panic slowly died down. It’s tragic that it takes a flu outbreak for the bathrooms to get clean.
Still, the fault is not entirely in the hands of the custodians. “We have two people whose job is to take care of the bathrooms in the main building for the whole day,” said Mr. Lemus. “They stock up on paper towels, toilet paper, and soap throughout the day, and even clean up after school.” This means that the bathrooms are actually very clean in the morning, but end up filthy as students abuse the supplies throughout the day. Some students carelessly toss used paper towels in the sinks, tear soap dispensers off the walls, and write nasty remarks on the bathroom stalls. “I’ve seen the bathroom walls vandalized and toilet papers just pulled out and tossed all over the place,” said Assistant Principal Siedelman. “It’s disgusting.”
I am aware that the issue of bathroom conditions has been brought up time after time. Still, the fact that this issue still remains after so many years is frustrating. This is to blame not only on the faculty, but also on the students. Sometimes, students use more paper towels than they need to, and leave the conditions filthy. Having janitors that clean up after us at school is not an excuse for us to abuse the facility. We should use the school bathrooms as we would our own bathrooms at home.
I think I speak for everyone when I say I would like to enter a bathroom without worrying about whether paper towels or soap is restocked. But in order to keep these privileges, it is up to us to make sure that we do not abuse them.