A few weeks ago, some bathrooms were closed for a few days as a result of graffiti and damaged stall doors.

Vandalism to school property and the closing of bathrooms has occurred before, with the most notable event occurring during the  TikTok “Devious Lick” challenge last semester. During that time, three bathrooms in the school were shut down due to incidents of soap dispensers being removed from the wall and stolen by students. 

“You have a few students that tend to ruin opportunities for the majority of the kids here,” assistant principal over safety and security Glen Croll said. “As a result [of the challenge], we had to close some of the bathrooms so we could monitor them more closely. If there [are] only a few bathrooms open, it [is] easier for us to keep watch of who is doing what, when the vandalism occurred, who left the bathroom around that time and stuff like that.”

Over the past few years, the bathrooms have undergone renovations due to student complaints.

“[The bathrooms are] really nice now,” Croll said. “If the students don’t take care of them, they’re not going to remain nice and we’ll have the same issue before the renovations, which [was] pretty [gross and out of shape] bathrooms.”

Croll said something as simple as writing on the tile costs money and can be very costly in time for those dealing with the vandalism.

“I know that [dealing with vandalism] is extra work for everyone involved, and we’re all [spread really thin] right now trying to make sure everything that needs to get done is getting done,” English and humanities teacher Nicole Perkins said. “Just to add on top of that, it’s upsetting to see these people, especially our custodians, have to do extra work because of the vandalism. They’re not here to just fix the mistakes of other people.”

As much as this situation affects faculty, custodians and resources, students have taken a hit as well. The shutdown of bathrooms was also accompanied by schedule rules where students cannot go to the bathroom the first and last 15 minutes of class, phones cannot be taken into the bathroom and students have to carry color-coded passes when leaving the classroom. 

 “It can be really inconvenient if your classroom isn’t by [an open bathroom] and if you have to wait [15 minutes after class starts,] especially when you really have to go,” junior Steven Carrillo-Logan said.

Croll said the vandalism is costing both the district and school money and that it could’ve been instead allocated to other parts of the building to make high school more enjoyable.

“We just need the [cooperation of] students,” Croll said. “We understand that the facilities aren’t their personal property, but they should treat [the bathrooms] like their property because it is their school. If they want to have an enjoyable experience, then we need the students’ help in taking care of the facilities.”