Lower-level bathrooms remain closed

The lower level bathrooms, including the gender neutral bathrooms and those near the girls’ locker room, have been closed since the 2018 spring semester. While events during after school hours allow entrance to those bathrooms near the girls’ locker room, students cannot use them regularly.

The gender neutral bathrooms have been closed due to a lock issue. Currently, only the staff has keys to those bathrooms. However, the administration hopes to resolve the lock issue and reopen these bathrooms next semester.

On the other hand, according to the administration, the bathrooms by the girls’ locker room have closed due to security issues.

“[The] main reason [the bathrooms are closed] is for a security concern,” said Assistant Principal Ronald Berggren. “We just don’t have enough staff to cover all of the areas up here [near center court, the halls, etc.] at brunch and lunch and also down below at the gym.”

Last year, the minimal staff posed a security risk to the bathrooms.

“There’s also no female campus aides if you haven’t noticed. When there is an issue in a female bathroom, especially last year, when Ms. Elenz-Martin wasn’t an assistant principal,” said Assistant Principal Lisa Nagendran, “I would have to go almost every time. If I wasn’t available, we’ve had some issues with staffing.”

Assistant Principal Nicole Elenz-Martin explained the reason for not having more staff.

“We’d love to have more staff [to monitor those areas],” Elenz-Martin said, “but we don’t have the funds.”

Junior Abby Yee considered the administration’s reasoning behind the closed bathrooms.

“I’ve heard the bathrooms are closed because they don’t have supervision,” Yee said, “but I think most students are
responsible enough to go to the bathroom by themselves, especially with the new one hall pass per class system.”

Some students who have classes located on the lower floor of the school experienced an inconvenience for not being able to use these bathrooms.

“The lines for the bathrooms were already long last year when all of them were open,” Yee said. “The closed bathrooms downstairs make it inconvenient, especially from the music rooms, to go to the bathroom and get back quickly.”

“The lines for the bathrooms were already long when all of them were open”

Despite the close proximity of the bathrooms in the girls’ locker rooms, physical education students encountered issues with the locked bathrooms.

“Most of the time when P.E. actually starts, they wait for everybody to leave the locker room and lock [the locker room] so that we can’t use the bathrooms in the P.E. locker rooms when classes are going on,” said sophomore Maria Gaffud. “Usually, we have to wait until class ends, when we’re changing or use the keys from the teachers [to use the bathrooms in the girls’ locker rooms].”

Some students, such as junior Andrew Jacobson, thought closing the bathrooms is a waste.

“It’s a waste of space in the school that could be given back to the students,” Jacobson said. “It’s a waste of resources to keep them maintained and running if nobody will use them.”

Jacobson said most students use the bathrooms properly.

“It’s not a secret that these [downstairs] bathrooms have a reputation for being the chosen location for illicit activities,” said Jacobson, “but the closing of these bathrooms only punishes honest and straight-laced students who just want to use the bathrooms for their intended purpose.”

Football coach Steve Sell addressed another point of tension.

“[The students should] quit going to the bathrooms that are currently open and quit doing what they’re not supposed to be doing in there,” Sell said. “The kids should get mad at the kids who are going in the bathrooms doing what they’re not supposed to be doing.”

However, senior Nicholas Wilcox believed that the closing of the bathrooms do not propose a huge predicament due to the availability of other restrooms.

“There’s plenty other bathrooms here on campus; it doesn’t make a huge difference,” Wilcox said. “Just walk a little longer. There’s one right above the ones that closed.”

Along with the closed bathrooms, other security measures have been installed.

“In terms of a security issue, that’s also why we made the closed campus policy more specific this year. We can make sure that at lunch, at brunch, [and] at times we are able to have eyes on students and make sure that they’re safe,” Nagendran said. “If there was an emergency or an issue, that they’d be near an adult and be near someone that could help, which is why we said… only on the outside perimeters near a classroom door.”

The future of the bathrooms remains an unclear decision.

“That is to be determined,” said Berggren. “We don’t know [if we’re going to close or open the bathrooms].”