By Adam Albrecht, Jack Fitzpatrict, Jacinda McMenamin
While the bathrooms around BHS are getting locked on a daily basis, many students are wondering if this is the new normal and said they think situation continues is getting worse.
Principal Lee Panagoulias has had to respond to the recent rise in vandalism and suggests it is a major reason for the lockages.
“Our goal is for all bathrooms to be open but they may be [locked because they are] getting cleaned,” Panagoulias said. “Overall, it is the responsibility of the entire school to meet this goal.”
However, many students are frustrated with the inconvenience as it causes them to be late for classes or means it takes longer to find a bathroom.
“It has happened twice now,” junior Brian Page said recently.
“It hasn’t happened to me,” said junior Nic Michaud, “But someone in my class has been late many times because they were locked.”
What makes the situation worse, students said, is that they can’t tell which bathrooms are locked and which ones are not. Melissa Simone, a social worker at BHS, said she is not thrilled about the situation either.
“It stinks because students ruin the accessibility for everyone else,” Simone said. “They use them for socializing and vaping.”
Some find it unfair due to vaping or the excessive amount of people socializing in the bathroom. “I hate when they lock all the bathrooms and only leave one and say there’s too many people,” one student said.
“I think it’s unfair [to lock the bathrooms] because of vape,” Lisandra Jackson, freshman, said. She also said that on many occassions she has had to travel across school to find a bathroom.
Others find it unfair towards the girls because it seems to be the girls’ bathrooms are more often locked than boys. “Won’t lock the boys but the girls in a heartbeat,” one student said.
Students were asked to share some ways to resolve the problem of the bathrooms being locked. Many said that it would be helpful to unlock more bathrooms or a gym bathroom. Others believe school faculty should be more involved.
“Security guards need to move on top of it,” Jackson said.
Simone believes that a limitation of phone use will lessen the amount of people in the bathrooms. “ I feel like cell phone use ruins it,” she said.
Simone also feels like a mandatory drug and alcohol course would be educational and consequential due to the use of vape. “It has to feel like a consequence, and more if you miss,” she said.
The bathroom lockages will not go away on their own, and Panagoulias said the entire school must make a collaborative decision to improve it.
“It is a work in progress and the best way to prevent this in the future is to have an open discussion with the school,” said Panagoulias.
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