For years, the girls’ bathrooms at NC have been in disrepair and in need of fixes. If you walk into any girls’ bathroom, you will find numerous problems. Just to clarify, cleanliness is not the issue. The janitors and students do a great job of keeping the bathrooms clean. 

It’s the maintenance that’s suffering. Many of the doors in the bathrooms don’t lock because when the locks were installed the locks didn’t match up. In many stalls, the handle to the toilet is loose and broken, and sometimes girls have to spend a few minutes trying to force the handle into the right place so that the toilet will flush. As for the stalls with the automatic flush, a lot of times people have to press the button multiple times because there is no water pressure. The issues in the bathroom wouldn’t be as big of a problem if there were more girls’ bathrooms and stalls at NC. There are around two bathrooms per floor at NC, with each bathroom ranging from around three to six stalls. There are around 1,000 girls at NC that have to share approximately 30-40 bathroom stalls. LT does not need to add more girls’ bathrooms because the 30-40 stalls are enough for the students. It’s only a problem now because every other stall is damaged, and there are no longer 30-40 fully operational stalls. Due to these problems, it takes a lot more time to use the bathroom, especially when there are long lines; girls now have to get their friends to hold the door for them, or they spend an extra minute trying to get the toilet to flush. 

It’s aggravating that even with all the funding LT has, the school doesn’t have well-maintained, functioning bathrooms. While there has been an increase in student vandalism in the bathrooms this year, most of the problems in the girls’ bathroom have been present for the past couple of years and stem from general wear and tear. That being said, LT students still need to respect the shared spaces and stop vandalizing the bathrooms. Fixing the girls’ bathrooms at NC should be a priority. Well-kept bathrooms expedite and shorten the long lines for the bathrooms, letting more students get to class on time. Functioning bathrooms are a basic need in schools and places of work.

Staff Vote: 25-0