Many Springfield students are familiar with the locked bathroom policy. In response to a series of vandalism and misuse, this decision took full effect at the beginning of the school year.
Student Response to the Lock-Downs
Those who use the boys’ bathroom have especially experienced the weight of this policy–with a mandatory assembly and email home in late November.
Senior Carlos Cejas voices the primary complaint among these students: “The only open bathroom is misused during flex, so I have to miss valuable class time and go during other blocks.” Although Cejas and many others understand the reasoning behind closed bathrooms, the policy is heavily regarded as inconvenient.
More generally, junior Ari Schwartzman claimed he was “slightly annoyed the school was forced to do that.” As someone who had nothing to do with the decision-making causing the bathrooms to close, he had to “deal with the consequences.”
MAINTENANCE RESPONSE
While the policy puts many students out of the way, it has a similar effect on Springfield’s maintenance staff. Mr. Wattley, our district’s director of operations, explains that the staff’s schedule is delayed after every vandalism incident–and that the staff is required to drop all in-progress projects in immediate response.
What’s more, equipment is often broken, tampered with, or stolen and needs replacing (the most common replacements are paper towels and soap dispensers). Constantly seeking these out takes a toll on budgets and time management.
According to Mr. Wattley, faculty members are sure to work quickly and with a “sense of urgency” out of understanding for the necessity of student bathrooms, however, when schedules are set back, it becomes difficult to do so consistently.
In hopes that students understand the depth and reach of their actions, Mr. Wattley provides some advice: “Really appreciate the resources and the culture that is present here in the district. Many times, all it takes is some appreciation and gratitude coupled with the fact that ‘your’ actions affect others in a negative way.”
