When you gotta go, you gotta go. But sometimes, at Harrison High School, you can’t go when you need to.
September 30 was the worst example of not getting to use the bathroom. Rumor has it that a dip can was shoved down the plumbing and messed everything up. At the beginning of the day only the bathroom across from Mrs. Mallicotes’ room was open, but you couldn’t use the sinks. After third bell that bathroom got closed which caused many people to start worrying because they couldn’t use the bathroom. So that left the office bathroom to be the only one that worked. When I walked into the office there was a very long line because it was a single stall and the sink didn’t work. Then once the bell rang to start fourth bell the announcements came on and said that for the rest of the bells every class has to take a class walk to the Activity center to use those bathrooms. When my class went it was about two minutes after that message was announced, but even then, there was a huge line, and you couldn’t even walk easily up or down the stairs. So, that lasted 20 minutes before another announcement came on saying that because of the plumbing issue school was ending early. That just shows how much bathrooms affect a basic school day.
The first big issue is passes. Some teachers at Harrison High School give students three bathroom passes per quarter. This seems unhealthy in the NAFC blog about needing to use the bathroom; It states, “Going to the bathroom 6-8 times per day is normal, and if you are very active and drinking lots of water, even 10 times a day may be natural for you”. When you think about it, students are in school for 7 hours a day 5 days a week, in that time we’re going to need to use the bathroom. The common response to kids when we bring up needing to go and not having enough time is “go between bells or lunch”. That simply isn’t possible if you looked at the hallways while changing classes…you’d be frightened. There’re students being pushed and shoved. We have 4 minutes between bells and some people have classes across campus and have to navigate through the halls to try and not be late. If you’re lucky enough to push through to get to the bathrooms 10 times out of 10 there’s a long line that is going to take more than four minutes to get through not even counting using the bathroom. When at lunch time you kind of just want to eat and socialize, not have to leave to go to the bathroom, taking time from the only longer break you get in a 7-hour day. If you go into the bathrooms during lunch, there’s always a long line and/or people smoking. So, to limit using bathrooms in class to three every 8-9 weeks is crazy.
There are also many issues with the facilities. One is the lines to go into the bathrooms. The lines in the bathrooms are like a lottery. You either get lucky and have no wait or you’re in a line out the door. The reason there’s such long lines is that there’s only 3 bathrooms that are public to all students. And on the first floor there are a total of 12 stalls for the girls and 14 for the guys. On the second floor there are only 4 public stalls for the girls and 9 for the guys. There are 1089 students enrolled at Harrison High School for the 2024-2025 school year, 539 boys and 550 girls. To have so little stalls and not expect lines . . . is crazy. The school does have a “6 in and 6 out” policy, but it is very poorly implemented. The rule lasted two weeks and then bad stuff was still happening, so it didn’t really matter how many were in the bathroom. The lines are such a struggle because the time in between classes is way too short to wait, so people just accept being late.
Another issue for the facilities is the gaps in the stall doors. I can personally say from the girl’s bathroom the gaps make me really uncomfortable because if you can see out of the stall doors, they can see in, which is very uncomfy. One student states, “the cracks in the stall doors are very easy to see through and makes many girls uncomfortable.” So, it isn’t just a problem with one person. I have talked to many people, and they all agree that the gaps are really wide.
Bathrooms are also made worse by graffiti. A student states that the bathrooms have “bad graffiti saying really mean things (kill yourself, go die, everyone hates you, etc.) that were there for 3/4 of the year.” When people are just trying to go to the bathroom, it’s not their ideal situation to have to read these things. Yes, the writing does get wiped off, but most likely not fast enough for it not to be read by lots of students.
Another unpleasant part of the bathrooms are when they stop being bathrooms and start being cafeterias. Walking into a bathroom, you don’t really expect to find food, but currently that is happening a lot more. Whether it’s squished down the drain or on the ground it’s still very unpleasant and disgusting. Having to step around people sitting on the floor eating is not an ideal situation, to say the least.
There’s also a huge problem with vaping at Harrison. Anytime you walk in the bathroom you will be greeted by a stench of weed or a fruity smell…. that is clearly not a new scent of perfume. Another student states “I should not have to wait to have to go to the bathroom because people have to hit their vapes at school. It is absolutely insane that we have that problem at the high school now. Also, when waiting for the bathroom, there should not be girls being rude to you when you’re in there simply because you’re not in there to vape”. Clearly that student had good points. Many girls are very rude to you when you’re “taking up a stall” by actually going to the restroom. This was the biggest complaint found by our poll: “We don’t want to smoke, we just wanna pee.” Another student said that “there are girls who think they run the school. They are mean to everyone, and cut in front of people, and go into the bathroom to smoke. They are scary and intimidating. I feel like they could do something to me at any moment.” Not feeling like you are safe in the public bathroom shouldn’t really be a worry in a school building, yet it is. Many of the girls or guys that hide and smoke in the bathroom are really intimidating, which causes students to be afraid of going to the bathroom.
There is also a problem with the fire alarms going off because of student vapes. In 2022 there was a fire drill every day for 2-3 weeks at the beginning of 6th bell. Senior Ashlyn Fuhrmann shares how in her sophomore year she would just expect it and when she entered Sra. Martinis’ class every day for 6th bell she would set her stuff down and be ready for the alarms to go off. The problem is that so many kids were going to smoke in the bathroom that it set off the alarms. The alarms going off sets everyone off and makes everyone lives harder during the school day.
Bathrooms play such a huge part in peoples’ school lives. We have a fundamental right to a clean, safe place to go to the bathroom, and we need to come together as as school to make sure our bathrooms stay accessible, functional, and safe.
