Bathroom vandalism has plagued restrooms here at AHS, and the issue of missing mirrors in the boys’ bathrooms continues
By Vismay Ravikumar
STAFF WRITER
The bathroom door rocks back and forth as you attempt to shove the door open. As the door refuses to budge, you look up and see a piece of lined paper taped on the door: “Closed due to vandalism.”
Multiple vandalism-related issues have plagued restrooms this year, affecting all restrooms, irrespective of gender. When multiple restrooms are locked at once, students have fewer available restrooms open to them, forcing them to spend more time on bathroom breaks. Numerous measures put in place by the administration in an attempt to find a solution have not stopped this issue from recurring.
A dirty stall in a boy’s bathroom at AHS.
Junior Zain Durrani finds the locked restrooms affect him greatly in particular, as his classes are all on the third floor. According to Durrani, this past April, all the boys’ restrooms on the third floor were locked, as well as one on the second floor, forcing him to have to resort to using a restroom much farther away. The sheer amount of time spent outside class during bathroom breaks leads to hall monitors frequently stopping Durrani in the hall, even when he has a valid excuse to be out of class.
Durrani notes that he was unaware of any girls’ restrooms being locked at the time, in contrast to the multitude of boys’ bathrooms being closed. In the boys’ bathroom, Durrani has rarely seen drawings or paintings in the form of graffiti, but he has seen broken locks, tampering with the Yellow Tulip Posters, and gum and garbage in urinals. Doodles have been seen here and there, which are typically removed.
Scott Darlington, assistant principal at Andover High, points out that restrooms can be re-opened only when the vandalism is repaired, which leads to them being locked for prolonged periods of time. Darlington notes that the administration closely monitors bathrooms and investigates any reported incidents of vandalism, with a ten-day suspension for students who commit vandalism, along with a referral to the police department.
Caitlin Brown, principal at Andover High, states that she wants students to treat school property with respect in order to not give custodians extra work. Brown aims to maintain a safe and clean environment for students and faculty alike, and vandalism gets in the way of keeping our school environment this way.
Brown notes that in the past, sign-in sheets have been placed outside the restrooms managed by hall monitors to discourage vandalism and isolate any incidents that occur. This measure has not been used recently, and instead male and female administrators have been walking in and out of students’ bathrooms for their respective gender to make sure students are using the restrooms in a responsible manner.
In boys’ bathrooms, in particular, many mirrors have been missing from the walls above the sinks. Although initially thought to be linked to vandalism, Darlington believes that there haven’t been mirrors in boys’ bathrooms since he started working here. Darlington doesn’t know of any plans in place to put mirrors into the boys’ restrooms, but Brown notes that this is something students would like to add, in which case a work order can be put in place.
