Restrooms are a place of sanctity—a place where people are most vulnerable in their own business.
At Sunnyslope, this sanctity has been tampered with.
Students at Sunnyslope High School have expressed dissatisfaction with the state of their restrooms.
But what are the causes of these issues, and who is responsible for their condition?
Assistant Principal of Operations Tim Matteson, who supervises the janitorial staff at Sunnyslope, says that most problems are student-created.
Several female students mentioned one of the most prominent restroom problems is that “The girls who go in there just talk all the time when people are trying to use the restroom.”
Lines often spill out of the doors because people use the restroom for unintended purposes. This creates disturbances. Students who need to use the stalls are delayed and often have to wait past the bell.
Congregation in the restrooms is an issue that Matteson is very aware of.
Since it is against school policy, he noted that, because the administration team is predominantly male, it makes it more difficult to send personnel into the restrooms to break up these groups.
Another common complaint in the women’s restrooms is the lack of functioning soap dispensers.
“The soap dispensers are always taken out or broken. You have to reach up and fish for soap to get any,” said Senior Sophi Sandoval.
While some of this issue is due to students misusing the soap dispensers, broken dispensers contribute to the spread of germs.
Regarding the soap dispensers in the women’s restrooms, Matteson said, “We’ll look into that,” while noting that more soap dispensers are replaced in the men’s restrooms because students “kick them off the walls.”
“We (the students) should step up to be cleaner because the custodians clean the restrooms to make their jobs not as hard,” Sandoval added.
The men’s restrooms are also apparent victims of negligence.
One issue is the alarming lack of stall doors. Some men’s restrooms only have one toilet—and this stall has no door.
While newer buildings, such as the K and J buildings, have added more restrooms and opportunities for men to use the facilities, this doesn’t explain the random disappearance of stall doors.
When asked about the missing stall doors, Matteson explained, “It’s not a conscious decision on our part to remove them. They’re being forcefully removed by students who are kicking the doors in… What we wish is that it didn’t have to come to that.”
He added, “There are only so many times you can replace a single door” due to the cost of the parts.
While this is frustrating for students regarding less privacy and inconvenience, Matteson didn’t detail how soon the door would be replaced, Bathrooms such as the K building are all in working condition with stall doors.
Another issue is the strong smell of bleach.
On the first day back from winter break, I walked into one restroom and found bleach pellets in the urinal and floor.
The open presence of these bleach pellets is a health concern.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), bleach “can release vapors that may be very dangerous to breathe in.”
Proper ventilation is necessary to air out these restrooms. Although school restrooms are required to have exhaust fans, the smell lingers throughout the day.
Matteson defended the use of cleaning chemicals, explaining that Sunnyslope houses over 2,400 students, meaning the restrooms must be cleaned throughout the day—before, during, and after school—to maintain cleanliness.
Matteson’s message to Sunnyslope students regarding the restrooms is simple: “Respect the S and respect the facilities, because they are your facilities.”
Overall, most, if not all, restroom issues are student-created.
To resolve these problems and prevent them from continuing, everyone must work together to create a safer environment for students to use the restrooms.
