Juliana Scott

Restroom toilets may clog or not flush correctly throughout the day. Principal Charles Park said this may be because students flush vapes down the toilet to avoid getting caught by staff. “So if you guys see how we’ve closed two restrooms at the same time, that means their piping has clogged up by the vape, and now we’re having to open it up,” Park said.

During school hours, a custodian’s job may be more difficult than after school hours. With the abundant use and misuse of the restrooms, like sticking feminine products on the walls, taking down seat covering dispensers, and students using the stalls to hang out with friends, restrooms are often disorganized throughout the day. Because of this, the job of a custodian may be more challenging than initially thought.

Custodian Julia Lopez explained the obstacles of maintaining clean school restrooms during the day. With students going in and out throughout the day, constantly having to check them makes it hard to carry on with other tasks.

“Picking up throughout the day, it’s a little challenging because we have students eating lunch in the restrooms,” Lopez said.

Although most of the work is done the night before, like restocking supplies and disinfecting the stalls, students with extracurriculars use the restroom later in the day, which results in the supply of toilet paper and paper towels being low by morning. Night crew supervisor John Recendez explained the transition from night crew to morning crew.

“And us leaving restrooms open overnight. You know, at night, they get used quite often. And so when the day crew comes, they have to come in, and they have to fill them up,” Recendez said.

Because of this, students may need to find other ways to secure the supplies needed. Sophomore Bella Diaz explained the difficulty with having a low supply in the stalls.

“Yeah, there’s always no toilet paper. I have to ask my friend to go give me a piece of toilet paper,” Diaz said.

According to a report from the California State Auditor, the state’s supreme audit institution, maintenance costs are one of the priorities that districts have to balance with their available funding.

Because of this, despite the custodian’s efforts to keep the restrooms clean, there isn’t enough personnel to handle the situation. Although Principal Charles Park is not in charge of the hiring of custodians, he explained his perspective on custodian staffing.

“So six bathrooms, three custodians, tough, and we do it. If we can have more, that’d be great,” Park said.

Another issue of the cleanliness of school restrooms are vapes. Students often vape in the restroom and dispose of them in unhygienic ways that lead to problems with the plumbing and maintenance of the restrooms. 

According to a research article from the National Library of Medicine, some school districts have installed vape detectors or camera surveillance near restrooms because that is where many students are noticed to be vaping. Park mentioned how this can affect the cleaning schedule of the custodians.

“In terms of cleaning , we have a schedule, but the problem with vapes is that kids flush it down the toilet,” Park said.

According to a research article from the International Janitorial Cleaning Services Association, an organization that provides the international standard for cleaning businesses, janitorial staff implement comprehensive cleaning protocols, like a structured routine and high-frequency disinfection procedures, that can contribute to the overall safety of the campus community.

Because of the vaping issue, and for some security purposes, some restrooms may be closed during the day, which can affect the students who may have to deal with the long lines and fewer restrooms because they may not have enough time between classes and would have to wait longer to use the restroom. According to Lopez, even though the restroom remains closed, she is unable to disclose the information about what security purposes they are.

The cleanliness of the restrooms is an ongoing issue throughout schools, and the process of cleaning them may be difficult for custodians, especially if they are understaffed. Park explains a possible solution from the security officers that can fix that issue temporarily.

“If anything, it’s a maintenance issue of ongoing fixing. So if there’s any issues in the bathrooms, you see the security officers who are posted in front…If we’re running out of something in the bathroom, let the security officer know,” Park said.