Our Bathrooms, Our Responsibility
The Pony Express Editorial Board
The Pony Express Editorial Board
Vandalism at school has been an issue for years, but has recently gained attention again due to the current restroom closures. The boy’s bathroom vandalization on Sept. 2 initiated a series of bathroom closures across Pioneer, leaving only the 450-wing bathroom open for boys, including the closure of the gender-neutral restroom. The recent vandalisms are most likely inspired by the TikTok “Devious Lick” trend, encouraging students to steal from and vandalize their schools.
With the rising popularity of the “Devious Lick” challenge, many bathrooms have been vandalized by students. Many of those vandalizations include many of the soap dispensers having been ruined and taken out, students drawing graffiti on the walls, as well as putting shoes and rolls of toilet paper in the toilets. One of the stall doors was also taken out and carried off the school campus. Along with the recent vandalism of the bathrooms, vaping is also an issue that both the student body and the administration have dealt with in the past. By vaping, students not only take up a lot of space to do so, they also create unclean air for other students to endure while going to the restroom.
Despite the trend having died off for the most part, the bathroom closures have continued into October, inconveniencing many students. Many students feel frustrated having to walk farther distances, sometimes even across the school, to find an open restroom. This can cause a loss of instructional time, while students rush to get back to class. Additionally, the limited bathrooms create longer lines for students to endure. With longer lines into the bathrooms, students have less time to eat and hang out before going back to the next set of classes. We need the restrooms open, especially during the pandemic where hygiene is a top priority, to help prevent the spread of disease. We have explicitly been told to wash our hands, but due to the bathroom closures, our hygiene and our safety is being jeopardized.
Instead of cleaning classrooms and the rest of campus, custodians now have to spend more time fixing the defaced restrooms. This takes away from the sanitization of other areas of the school which is necessary during the pandemic. Not to mention the fact of the added inconvenience on the custodians themselves, as they now have to go out of their way to repair the restrooms.
However, the solution rests not with the administration, but on the student body. The majority of restrooms will likely remain closed as long as vandalism is an ongoing issue. It’s no secret that this happens, we all see it. An admin won’t go into the bathrooms for obvious reasons, so it's up to us to stop it. We need to work as a community to solve the vandalism occuring on campus. We need to wipe the problem out cleanly before it tarnishes Pioneers legacy. Do better Pioneer, and stop trashing the can.
With the rising popularity of the “Devious Lick” challenge, many bathrooms have been vandalized by students. Many of those vandalizations include many of the soap dispensers having been ruined and taken out, students drawing graffiti on the walls, as well as putting shoes and rolls of toilet paper in the toilets. One of the stall doors was also taken out and carried off the school campus. Along with the recent vandalism of the bathrooms, vaping is also an issue that both the student body and the administration have dealt with in the past. By vaping, students not only take up a lot of space to do so, they also create unclean air for other students to endure while going to the restroom.
Despite the trend having died off for the most part, the bathroom closures have continued into October, inconveniencing many students. Many students feel frustrated having to walk farther distances, sometimes even across the school, to find an open restroom. This can cause a loss of instructional time, while students rush to get back to class. Additionally, the limited bathrooms create longer lines for students to endure. With longer lines into the bathrooms, students have less time to eat and hang out before going back to the next set of classes. We need the restrooms open, especially during the pandemic where hygiene is a top priority, to help prevent the spread of disease. We have explicitly been told to wash our hands, but due to the bathroom closures, our hygiene and our safety is being jeopardized.
Instead of cleaning classrooms and the rest of campus, custodians now have to spend more time fixing the defaced restrooms. This takes away from the sanitization of other areas of the school which is necessary during the pandemic. Not to mention the fact of the added inconvenience on the custodians themselves, as they now have to go out of their way to repair the restrooms.
However, the solution rests not with the administration, but on the student body. The majority of restrooms will likely remain closed as long as vandalism is an ongoing issue. It’s no secret that this happens, we all see it. An admin won’t go into the bathrooms for obvious reasons, so it's up to us to stop it. We need to work as a community to solve the vandalism occuring on campus. We need to wipe the problem out cleanly before it tarnishes Pioneers legacy. Do better Pioneer, and stop trashing the can.