Vandalism in the bathrooms has been a problem in the school for years, particularly in the years following the break from in-person school. Administration has tried to take action in the hopes of preventing it; however, it keeps happening and the frequency of incidents is getting higher. Something more needs to be done to decrease vandalism before it starts impacting students even more.
Laura Willoughby is an assistant principal who is a part of the administration team, and has seen a rise over the seven years she has been here.
“I have definitely noticed an increase in wreckage in the bathrooms,” Willoughby said.
This behavior at many schools can include writing on walls, damaging school property, clogging toilets on purpose, and even more severe things like breaking mirrors or setting off fire alarms when there is no fire. Some examples of vandalism that Deep Run has experienced frequently are clogged toilets or writing on stalls.
“A lot of smokers have been caught in the bathrooms and writing on stalls,” Willoughby said.
The impact of these problems are schools paying money for repairs, students’ education being affected, and non-usable bathrooms.
Custodial staff who clean the bathrooms have witnessed many different forms of vandalism. To prevent this, the administration made the decision this year to close the bathrooms during lunch, leaving only two on the first floor near the Commons unlocked. Bathrooms are also typically closed within the first and last fifteen minutes of class. Closing the bathrooms this often has decreased the availability for students to vandalize.
Students at lunch only have two bathrooms to access per gender. People who actually are trying to use the bathroom either don’t have toilet paper because it is taken away or thrown everywhere, the toilets or sinks aren’t working, or there is a huge line because you are at one of two bathrooms in the entire school that is operational at the time. Students who harm the bathrooms are only harming themselves.
Vandalism is highly discouraged and the punishment is a “two day suspension and a call home,” Willoughby said. “Plans going forward on vandalism at Deep Run are to hire more staff to check bathrooms often and people outside of all bathrooms to keep track of who is going in.”
These efforts over time hopefully will decrease vandalism.
