Treasure Cyprian goes to school at 7:30 and ends her day at 5:15 because of her athletic activities. During her day, she drinks about four to five bottles of water. Cyprian is a very active student which makes her daily intake of water higher than other students. This of course requires her to relieve herself very often. But how can she take care of her business if the bathrooms are constantly locked?
Security has started locking bathrooms as a way to stop students from skipping class. But this prevents students from using the bathroom and taking care of their business.
In recent weeks, almost all bathrooms have been locked. Most of the time there is a bathroom that stays unlocked so that students can relieve themselves. But now security is taking on extra measures to prevent truancy.
“I feel like locking bathrooms is inconsiderate to the students that actually need to use the restroom,” says sophomore Ana Robles Flores. “It causes me to spend more time in the hallways looking for an open bathroom,” she adds.
Students waste a lot of the time for important material in class becasue they are looking for a bathroom. This gives the impression that students are skipping class when that is not the case at all.
Locking bathrooms is unnecessary when students find a way to skip class anyways. Half of the students that are out in the hallways are students looking for an unlocked bathroom. This results in a lot of students ending up in In-School Suspension (ISS) and a ruined record for unlawful reasons.
However, there is a big problem with truancy and drug use at Parkdale. Many students take advantage of the lack of staff to skip school. Because of this, security gets tighter and prevents students from using the restroom.
Security believes that locking bathrooms will give certain students the help they need. “It is a deterrent not a solution,” says Security Guard Mr. Cedric Basima. “We want to deter bad behavior so that we can find help for the students that need help.”
Instead of locking bathrooms, security should keep an eye on bathrooms and make sure that the bathrooms aren’t overflowing with students. This could prevent students from wandering halls and can give them more time in class.
