After seven long months, admin at OA has finally reopened one more bathroom after lots of feedback was gathered from staff and students. From such a small change, there has been very varying opinions from the people in the school.
The student body overall is thrilled across all grades. The opening of even just one more bathroom per floor has made them much less crowded and an overall faster process.
“I feel like the bathroom’s opening is creating a lot less drama with, like, trying to go into the stalls and not having to wait as long,” said junior Emmy Cunningham, “It’s, like, a lot less time spent in the bathroom, so it’s quicker.”
Not only have students reported the process being easier and quicker, they have also said it is way less problematic. With the option of two bathrooms now, there’s less of a chance of being caught up in something bad, and if you are, there’s always the other one.
“It’s like, if there’s people doing bad things, you can just go to other bathroom,” said junior Lia Presutti. “You can just avoid the problem overall with the second one open. It’s great.”
The addition of the second bathroom seems to have no downsides to the student body, making it much more convenient to leave class and go to the bathroom. However, some students believe that even though the change was beneficial, we need more.
“I think despite two open bathrooms now, there are still too many people so I think that’s what should be concentrated on instead of just opening bathrooms. Sometimes you’re trying to go to the bathroom, and actually use it, and there’s seven people. So, it’s not really possible,” said Mark Dukhovych, a senior, “I think it was a good step towards better changes, but it’s not enough.”
On the other side of things, most staff members feel the opposite of the students. While they can not fully understand the experience because they are not students, they are not thrilled with the reopening for many reasons.
“From a faculty standpoint, I obviously care about student safety. While I obviously don’t know what happens, I only have assumptions,” said Mr. Auger. “I guess I would just say that anecdotally, students have told me they have concerns about the bathrooms, and with more bathrooms there is more potential for things to happen that are unsafe.”
On the same token, bathrooms are a basic human need. Therefore, teachers do understand this need and are trying their best to emphasize with students, regardless of their personal feelings about the topic.
“I don’t necessarily disagree with the students because if I were a student I would want all the bathrooms open,” said Mr. Auger. “So from my perspective, I try to remember that if I were in the shoes of a student here, I would feel like limiting bathroom access would be like punishing the group for the actions of a few.”
Overall, this process is going to be a work in progress, including collaboration between students, staff, and admin. The best solution is out there, finding it will just take work from everybody in the school system.
“I think the school is working on how we can best balance student safety, and also students ability to use the bathroom,” said Mr. Auger.
