Has this happened to you? You walk into a school restroom and this is what you find. Toilet paper teepeed over the stalls, paper towels stuffed in the sink and toilet, and carvings and drawings all over the walls. Let’s face it, people trash the bathrooms. Despite hard work from the custodial crew, vandalism is a serious problem that is hard to stop. Or is it? Custodians, students and anonymous surveyors weighed in about the restroom vandalism at LHS.

Here’s the Problem

   Vandalism can be as awful as a swastika on a bathroom stall or as ‘harmless’ as leaving paper towels all over the floor. Students see carvings on stalls and walls, toilet paper stuffed in the toilets, teepee, paper towels clogging up sinks and trash all over the floor because people tip over the trash cans.

   “People will take the roll of toilet paper off of the rack,” freshman Nathan Moon said. “Then they’ll stuff it in the toilets or throw it around the bathroom.”

   Others reported walking into the bathroom, seeing the mess caused by the vandalism and walking out without even using the restroom.

   “Everybody has to use the restroom and it’s disgusting,” junior Jackson Ferguson said. “Why do you have to throw the toilet paper everywhere? It’s a mess and it’s annoying.”

   Out of 329 students surveyed, 129 said that they sometimes see vandalism and 67 said they see it all of the time. In other words, about 60% see the vandalism frequently. That’s a staggering number. Despite this, 187 students said they didn’t care and 15 even found it funny.

   “I’m sure it offends other people, but not me necessarily,” senior Josh Gale said.

      While some students find it harmless, the consequences for vandalism are not minor by any means. The vandaliser is charged for the repair and clean up costs, billed for the custodial time and then suspended depending on the level of the crime.

   “We’ve had suspensions all the way to out of school,” Head Principal Dr. April Adams said. “One suspension many years ago resulted in criminal charges.”

Why’s This Happening?

   It’s not hard to determine why students do it.

   “It shows the immaturity of some of the students here,” head custodian Paul Moreno said. “I think they do it for attention, to look cool. It was the same thing when I was growing up.”

   Students agree with Moreno by assuming that vandalism is done to ‘look cool’ or ‘just because’.

   Not many students say they have walked in on another student vandalising the restroom.

   “If I were to walk in on someone doing it, I would probably ask them why they are

doing it and remind them that they are in high school and not third grade,” Moon said.

   “There’s always some forms of vandalism,” Adams said. “It is very negative and deviant behavior that has no purpose anywhere.”

Behind the Door

   Behind the scenes, vandalism is a bigger problem than it seems. Custodian Maria Arrojo has been putting her own time and money into keeping the bathrooms clean.

   Often times, the bathrooms are in such bad conditions that she doesn’t have time to take her breaks while she is working in the evening. She also buys air fresheners to put in the bathrooms. Despite this, students have continued to trash them.

   One time Arrojo had to put a plastic bag over a broken urinal to keep students from using it. However, students ignored the bag and used the urinal anyways. Arrojo is just one of many custodians who have to deal with vandalism.

   “Sometimes it impedes on the privacy because we have to take out the dividers to clean them or repaint them,” Moreno said. “A lot of the time it’s racist and I think that as a society we’re past that. But, it still happens.”

Flush Vandalism

   The problem is, it’s hard to catch someone in the act. There are so many repeat offenders because they are rarely punished.

   “Extreme action would make me very sad,” Adams said. “I look at you all as young adults and I feel very passionately about treating our students as such.”

   Adams encourages students to take action when they see vandalism; whether that be to stand up to the perpetrator or to tell an adult.

   “If you do not feel comfortable and do not want to get involved because it is a peer, let an adult know,” she said. “If you feel confident enough to stand up to the vandaliser, just ask them why they are doing that and that it is your school too and you do not appreciate it.”

   Of course, some believe that vandalism should be ignored. It could be argued that making a big deal about it only gives vandalism power.

   “We all have to hold ourselves accountable,” Adams said. “There are more good decision-makers at our school than negative decision-makers. Let the majority rule and change the behaviors of the negative party.”