The most infamous topic at HC would have to be the state of the bathroom. HC’s bathrooms have always been an issue, but mainly for the fact that they smell, they are dirty, and they are not respected by students in the way they should; this is in no fault to the custodial staff, however. This year the bathrooms, even though disgusting, seem to be a gathering place for students.

Why students feel the need to crowd in a disgusting high school bathroom is beyond the minds of most sane people. Students eat lunch in the bathrooms, congregate in the bathrooms, and sit in the sinks in the bathrooms. People that do this cause nothing but disruption. How is a student who is just trying to go to the bathroom and wash their hands supposed to do this when students crowd the stalls and sit in the sinks?

Students shouldn’t have to fear going to the bathroom. Students shouldn’t have to fear asking someone else if they can squeeze past them and their group of friends in order to get into a stall. Students shouldn’t have to fear asking a person sitting in the sink if they can move in order for them to be able to wash their hands. Students shouldn’t have to fear getting hurt by other students purely for having to go to the bathroom. 

The bathrooms have always been an issue, and while privacy is an obvious necessity, faculty and school officers need to do more to manage the restrooms. People skip class in the bathrooms because they know the administration won’t get to them if they’re in the stalls. Students shouldn’t have a carefree mentality when it comes to skipping class. However, when faculty doesn’t manage the bathrooms or hallways in the way they should, this is the result. Faculty and school officers need to manage the restrooms and hallways so that there are not an unnecessary amount of students wandering the school and skipping class.

For as much stress as administrators have put on “hall sweeps” and staying out of the halls during class, there certainly are a good number of students in the hallways at all times throughout the day. Students leave class on the premise that they are “going to the bathroom,” and then will walk in the halls for an extended period of time, talk to a friend in the hallway, or go sit in the bathroom. When students leave class to do this, they take their teacher’s hall pass with them. It is a rule you cannot leave the room without a hall pass; therefore, if a student leaves the room and does who knows what for an extended period of time, no one else can leave the room. People that actually have to go to the bathroom can’t go because some other student is skipping class. This needs to be fixed. Hallways need to be “swept” more and managed more. It isn’t fair to kids who actually have to leave the room that they cannot. 

If there is a problem, then faculty, officers, and administrators should work to fix it, as well as students working to better manage themselves and their behavior. The issues brought to light shouldn’t be ignored. People shouldn’t be shamed for bringing awareness to the fact that the bathrooms and hallways need to be better controlled. 

HC, do a better job.