School administration closed various school bathrooms during lunch hours beginning on October 15. The policy, although temporary, was a result of vandalism, according to Associate Principal Jon Drury.

The vandalism, which began last year, included broken soap dispensers and paper towels littered on the ground.

At the peak of the closures, only 1 boys’ restroom was available during the lunch period.

Many students were caught off guard by the closures.

Junior Mac Follmer found the situation stressful. “I was with some friends at the end of lunch and we always go to the bathroom before last period because our teacher is very strict on leaving class,” said Follmer. “After frantically running to 3 different locked bathrooms we talked to [baseball coach Max Luckhurst] and he said that there was 1 bathroom open in the cafeteria.”

According to Follmer, he and his friends ran to the cafeteria before returning to class just before it started.

“It was an annoying and confusing experience to say the least,” said Follmer.

Senior Kyle Sintchak said that “the bathrooms shouldn’t be closed. It’s a natural right to be able to use the bathroom and people who have done nothing are still being punished which is wrong.”

Drury said the situation could be avoided if all restroom users respected the facilities. “We see people with too much time on their hands being vandals in the bathrooms,” he said.

According to Drury, the Say Something app, which was implemented as a way for students to report unusual or potential threatening behavior, can be used to report vandalism. “This can be over soon. If you see something, report it on the app. It helps a lot,” he said.

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