Recently many students have been taking too long using the restroom, but for many students this is due to the restrooms constantly being closed. The school offers 16 restrooms, found in the M, B, D, E, T buildings and range from 3-6 stalls per restroom, as well as four gender neutral restrooms. Most constantly closed are the M building and the 2nd floor of the T building restrooms.

According to Principal Dr. Charles Park, as a new principal, he opened all restrooms, but soon realized that students were vaping in them, which led to his plan of opening up restrooms strategically. 

Female designated restrooms have been recently closed more than the male restroom; this is because the school has fewer female security. Park states that they are currently not looking into hiring more because they are unable to. Having less security guards watching over the restrooms means the longer the restrooms will remain closed. 

“During the day when class is in session B, D, M female restrooms are open, but during nutrition and lunch we close the M because our one security officer can go down the hallway and check the restroom every four minutes,” said Park. 

He also stated this four minute timer is important because if there are any issues in the restroom or any medical emergency this four minute window is a good amount of time our security guards can be there.

Having the restrooms closed is a great inconvenience because if a student is in L portables and the only restroom open is across campus then teachers would have to account for their students being out of class for longer periods of time. 

“Very inconvenient having the restrooms closed because it’s making me miss class time and teachers need to be more understanding that students are now walking far just to use the restroom,” said senior Jaden Rojas. 

Once getting permission from the teacher to use the restrooms students are allowed to make themselves a Minga hall pass which has a time limit. Students have recently been going over the time limit because of how far the nearest open restroom to their classroom is. 

English teacher Phoebe Chao said, “It’s understandable why restrooms are being closed so I do feel the need to be more flexible.” 

She also explained that a solution would be to be more flexible and to monitor those who are consistently gone for extended periods of time.

Sophomore Kaylani Shepard said she was given detention for extending her hall pass time because of having to walk across campus for an open restroom.

“I was never going to get there and back in 5 minutes,” she said.

“Maybe it’s time to move the time to 10,” said Park when hearing that students have been getting detentions for going over the Minga pass time just from looking for a restroom. This would be very helpful in that teachers and students will know how much time to give on the Minga hall pass.

Restroom closure is a new problem at the school. With our big campus and being timed to use the bathroom we spend too much just trying to look for an open restroom. The school’s students do need to have patience with the administration so that they can open these restrooms for their students.