Bathroom Crisis 3
January 26, 2022
Following Christmas break, the restrooms in all buildings have been re-opened to the students, escorts are no longer in use, hall monitors remain in place, watching over students. Although students appreciate their restrooms back, they feel that they should not have to be thankful for something so simple as using the restroom on their own terms. We hope that the students involved have learned their lesson, and we hope that the administration finds a different solution in the future.
After a conversation with a former Lakes High School student, he explains how the bathrooms were always a hard place to get to. Some bathrooms being dedicated to smoking, and almost all were full of vandalism. The restroom was always uncomfortable to use, because then just like now, the students are hiding in the restroom. The restrooms have always been bad, but considering the amount of restrooms in the building, there was usually one restroom that was empty for him. Now at Lakes High School, you will not find an empty restroom anywhere. the restrooms have gone from bad to somehow worse within a few years.
Students are having a challenging time trusting that the restrooms will remain open, everyday students and staff steer further and further apart due to the lack of trust that has built a wall between them. While we try to trust and speak to teachers, we feel that it is not safe to talk to teachers anymore, given the fact that teachers are mandatory reporters, and the elephant in the room being why the restrooms were closed in the first place. While students understand the hard choice the staff had to make, and that some did not want that to be the answer, the students cannot help but know that there were other options. Those other options would have required more time and effort, but the students feel hurt, that the administration was not willing to take the time to do so for their students who they preach about respecting and honoring.
B. Gosselin • Feb 10, 2022 at 2:30 pm
It’s heart-breaking to read about this. I’m just a staff member so I don’t have any say in how the bathrooms are monitored and I don’t envy those whose responsibility it is to keep everyone safe while maintaining basic human dignity. I’m curious, what ‘other options’ are you referring to?
Emily Smith • Feb 14, 2022 at 12:29 pm
I’m really glad you asked, this is something i have been thinking about a lot, in hopes that we start working together instead of against each other so much.
talking to the students: although teachers have talked to us about the bathrooms issues, it didn’t really feel like they wanted to listen to us, it felt like they were talking down to us, and painting every students as though we had done something.
going more into detail about who is actually miss using the bathrooms: from a students point of view it appears to be the same students repeatedly.
HALL MONITORS: i do not like hall monitors, and I can imagine they don’t like babysitting in the hallway, but they have been their for a while, and although they have helped in some cases, they see over everything, i can imagine that they have seen a pattern here and their, we should be using them to the best of their ability.