As a student at WCHS, along with many others, it is known that the state of the school’s bathrooms is not up to standard. Based on cleanliness, safety, and convenience, these bathrooms don’t provide a good space to take care of your business. This is not only a problem within this school, but also across the US. When bathrooms end up like this, they start to interfere with the health and academics of staff and students.

We’ve all seen water on the floor or maybe even some toilet paper on the ground, but in school bathrooms, it can be much worse. There are pieces of the floor ripped up, broken tiles, rusted metal, broken mirrors, and more. Many of the issues surrounding these areas can’t be solved by a custodian, and only by renovation. The bathrooms haven’t changed throughout my four years of high school, and if anything has gotten worse. With safety hazards all around, it may stop students from going to the bathroom all together.

Many other students have witnessed hazards as well. When a student refuses to go to the bathroom, it can start to affect their health, and overall learning capability. When someone decides to “hold it in” they can cause urinary and gastrointestinal issues within the body. Doing this for the span of a school day, which is seven hours on average, is very taxing on the body.

Also, the cleanliness of the bathrooms is not acceptable either. The bathroom floor is always covered in urine inside the men’s room, and the toilet seats are also covered as well. This can be an issue caused by fellow students, however, the walls and corners are covered in grime and mold. “I leave the bathroom with pee all over my shoe,” said Jonah Savage, a Junior at WCHS. I also leave the bathroom with my shoes squeaking, which is disgusting and embarrassing. In the guy’s room at least, we don’t always have to sit down to use the restroom, however, girls don’t have that option. To combat this issue, there are paper outlines to lay across the toilet seats to provide a more sanitary toilet. However, our school doesn’t provide this service. Even after someone relieves themselves, there isn’t the proper equipment to wash their hands. The sinks are often faulty, and the soap dispensers don’t have soap. “The sinks are broken and there’s never soap,” said Elijah Martin, a Junior at WCHS. There should be at least a proper way to cleanse your hands if the toilets are that filthy.

The academic side of things is also interfered with. Many students can’t focus as well if they refuse to go to the bathroom. Some students go as far as refusing to drink water to avoid having to use the school restroom during the day. Once someone is dehydrated enough to become thirsty, their performance, focus, and memory capabilities are lowered by at least ten percent. Even if a student still drinks water, and “holds it in”, it still has the same effect on brain power. The bladder stays healthy if it is emptied before it gets over full. Letting it become overfull can cause side effects that continue to be there later on in life.

Having faulty or dirty school bathrooms doesn’t just affect the health of a student, but also their learning. Students even try to use staff bathrooms, or in some cases sign out of school to use their bathroom at home. Some of the problems like broken equipment and dirty surfaces are caused by students. However, typically, students tend to care less about an area if it looks terrible in the first place. The bathroom walls could be repainted, the floor could be replaced, and new equipment would improve the way students see our bathrooms. As stressful as the school already is, relieving yourself shouldn’t be such a horrible experience.

Sources: https://cubix-inc.com/blog/how-dirty-restrooms-can-negatively-impact-student-health-and-learning/#:~:text=Stinky%20toilets%2C%20no%20supplies%2C%20dirty,mean%20a%20resurgence%20in%20accidents.