This editorial represents the opinion of 14 out of 14 editors.
Aragon’s lower-floor bathrooms have been closed since spring semester 2018 and there has been no indication that they will reopen. The Outlook believes that the inconvenience from closing the lower-floor bathrooms outweighs the minimal benefit.
Waiting in lines during brunch and lunch is an issue. With 1700 students on campus, closure of the downstairs bathrooms leaves other bathrooms overcrowded; students waiting in line during passing period are left scrambling late to their next class and end up missing valuable class time.
In the past, the school functioned well with the lower floor bathrooms open and the same number of administrators. While the administration cited reasons regarding safety, we believe that the administration’s current explanation of the bathroom’s closure deserves elaboration.
We speculate that the closure of the bathrooms relates to vaping, drug dealing or bullying, but closing down bathrooms won’t stop these students as they can simply use the other bathrooms – it’s only punishing the majority of rule-abiding students. If illicit behaviors did occur in these bathrooms, students may always file an anonymous report.
We commend the administration’s intention to reopen the gender-neutral bathrooms second semester – Aragon prides itself as an inclusive and welcoming community, and providing access to those bathrooms follows through with this philosophy. However, if lower-level gender-neutral bathrooms are reopening, it would make sense to open all the lower bathrooms.
The administration believes Aragon is understaffed; if cost is the issue, we suggest Aragon install vape and anti-bullying sensors such as Fly Sense,which would serve a less expensive alternative to hiring additional staff. The Plainedge Public Schools in Long Island, New York, for example, have already installed such detectors in their bathrooms. While cameras are legally prohibited from monitoring behavior inside bathrooms or locker rooms, sensors such as Fly Sense are allowed. Fly Sense operates by alerting administrators of noise peaks or water vapor, which would work well in conjunction with outside camera monitors – once the alarm sets off, cameras can record and identify any student leaving the bathroom, ultimately allowing administrators the opportunity to punish perpetrators even if students attempt to escape.
Having bathrooms accessible and open to all students is essential to student health. We urge the administration to reopen the bathrooms.
