Why is ANHS’ Bathroom Hygiene so Concerning to Students?

“There is food everywhere. It’s gross.” This is the type of comment students make whenever the school bathrooms are mentioned.

The school bathrooms, being some of the most visited and used places throughout the school day, are often one of the most unhygienic places. In recent months, supervisors often guard the bathrooms to prevent them from becoming food fight arenas or even places where students conduct inappropriate activities such as vaping.

“I do think the supervisors in the bathrooms did limit the amount of vaping in the bathrooms but it definitely did not stop it.”

Zara Ikram is a junior at ANHS and described her experience of encountering supervisors. Based on her story, she believes that the hygiene of the school bathroom is a direct result of the users. At the same time, she suggested some ideas to help further improve the bathrooms at the school.

“Definitely bring back the towel dispensers… also implement more rules…”

Due to the removal of paper towels in bathrooms, floors are becoming more slippery for the students as most just shake their hands after washing them.  As time goes on, the specks of dirt on the shoe students have and the small puddles created on the floors cause mucky water in the bathrooms. 

In a lot of cases, the sinks in the bathrooms are always broken, causing difficulties when students try to wash their hands. Another factor that many students shared is that the amount of vaping in the bathrooms limits how many students want to go in. Although not pointing to specific names, it is reported that large groups are gathered in the bathrooms during breaks or class periods.

As a solution, Lorenzo Gan, the Junior ASB Vice President, shared: “We are thinking about smoke detectors.”

If smoke detectors are implemented in the school bathrooms, there will be a better chance of preventing the amount of vaping that happens. However, the reason that has not been in place is that the school is scared that the smoke detectors can easily be destroyed. Lorenzo also shared the previous solution, which is hiring eight bodyguards to protect the bathrooms; however, that idea was scratched. 

Another issue that arose recently that contributed even more to a decrease in hygiene in the school bathrooms is the sanitary kit dispensers. In the girl’s bathroom, free sanitary napkins are provided for everyone. But instead of responsibly using the machine that dispenses the products, people often empty the machine and throw the products around. Many people would benefit from this improvement, but some are also ruining it. 

Overall, many students call for better hygiene in the school bathrooms, but in the end, it is ultimately up to the people that are using the bathrooms that are responsible for keeping them clean. Solutions such as implementing new sets of rules for those who cause the decrease in hygiene are suggested by the students, but it is ultimately up to the school to decide if they will be implemented or not.