Having access to a clean bathroom is a vital right for every Gabrielino High School student. However, throughout the 2021-2022 school year, this has not been the case. This needs to change.
The struggles that our bathrooms face are well known throughout campus. There are sinks that are not properly working, soap dispensers that are broken, hand dryers that do not work, a lack of toilet seat covers, locks that do not work on the stalls, and some stall doors that are jammed. Along with this, there are virtually no mirrors to be found except for the newest bathroom next to the Beak.
Graffiti can be seen covering the bathroom stalls and walls, some saying useless phrases, with others saying derogatory terms. These conditions seen in all of the bathrooms throughout campus cause students to not want to go to the bathroom at all during the day.
Junior Nathan Kan stated, “When I walk in [the bathroom], it makes me feel like I’m walking through a swamp.”
The students are more than aware of the vandalism that takes place in the bathrooms. Towards the beginning of the year, there was a trend going around on social media regarding stealing things and posting them, known as “devious licks.” This was seen at the Gabrielino campus, with it going as far as stealing dividers from the urinals in the boys’ locker room, which have still not been replaced.
Due to vaping incidents, certain restrooms remained locked throughout the day, such as in the E building, in hopes of preventing events like this from happening. Although the intent is clear, it is not evident how much of an effect this is having on stopping students from vaping on campus, as it just forces them to do this somewhere else.
Although there have been many issues with damage in the bathrooms, this does not mean that all students need to suffer because of the few that ruin it. Due to how the administration locks certain bathrooms because of the lack of security guards necessary to monitor all of the bathrooms, students have to walk across campus just to find the first available bathroom, losing out on class time.
Head custodian Raul Enriquez explained that he opens all of the bathrooms in the morning, and throughout the day security guards close the restrooms out of safety precautions. However, he has spoken with the principal about this matter, and he is going to work on keeping all of the restrooms open throughout the day.
Not only are there these many defects with the bathrooms, but the only gender neutral bathrooms on campus are two in the College and Career Center, as well as one in the nurse’s office. These tend to be out of the way for some, making using the bathrooms at school inaccessible to certain students.
As stated in an article found on Gender Inclusive Schools, “As an alternative, a ‘gender neutral’ restroom or private changing area may be used by any student who desires increased privacy, regardless of the underlying reason.”
Moving forward, it would be extremely beneficial to the students of Gabrielino High School if there were access to more restrooms throughout the day, and with better conditions. Having checks periodically throughout the day to ensure that everything is in order in the bathrooms would be extremely beneficial for creating a cleaner and safer environment for students.
