Aliso Niguel High School is notorious for poor impressions about the bathrooms. Many students often feel uncomfortable because of the unsanitary conditions. Many difficulties arise when students try to use the restrooms.
A majority of the time, there either isn’t enough soap or some stalls lack toilet paper. The upkeep is extremely poor and there is confusion and distress among students. Many of the sink faucets don’t work either—but why?
Repairs are expensive and sometimes students can waste products by either clogging toilets on purpose. This is a very big issue that is common in the behavior of students today, as they think it is funny to cause damages on school property.
Another problem is the doors of the bathroom stalls. In some bathrooms, there are some inappropriate messages that have been carved into the doors by students who attended ANHS in previous years.
Tigerlilee Flores (11) says “The school bathrooms are far below par. I feel like two out of the eight sinks actually work and the soaps are usually empty. The only bathroom I have complete trust in is the bathroom next to the science building, but it’s never even open anymore.
Most of the time, I try my best to avoid using the bathroom while at school. The lines are way too long and closing one of the bathrooms does not have any benefits in this situation. Instead, the lines get longer and it becomes more annoying and time consuming to wait for an available stall.”
Many students’ opinions align with Flores, as bathrooms at Aliso Niguel High School have gained a poor reputation and are often avoided at all costs.
For some of the stalls, the locks don’t work, or it is not even still on the door. This is a huge problem because it does not allow a student to use the bathroom with complete privacy, which is an important issue. Students feel quite uncomfortable in these circumstances and choose to not use the school restrooms at all.
Another major problem are the faucets. The majority of them either do not function correctly or do not work at all. This prevents students from basic hygiene necessities and may cause bigger issues in the future, such as illnesses and unwanted diseases.
Karla Davila (11) says, “I personally dislike the school bathrooms because they are really nasty. The only good bathroom on campus is the bathroom near the physical science building. The water does not come out of most of the faucets and it’s a struggle to just wash my hands.
Also, it’s kind of frightening when some of the stalls don’t lock and only close. There are no pads and during break and lunch time, the lines for all of the bathrooms are so long which causes students to be tardy to their classes sometimes.”
California State Law requires that all high schools have a ratio of 1 toilet/30 females, but there are only 14 open at most times during the school day, with the exception of there sometimes being 18 (science building included). Not only does this cause long lines, but it is breaking a health code. Since there are approximately 1,200 females at Aliso Niguel High School, that would require a minimum of 40 toilets open at all times.
The lack of commitment to state laws reflects the poor upkeep of the bathrooms and why they are the way they are, which is incredibly unfortunate.
Although there are various issues that need to be solved, the solutions are costly. If our students can make a promise to make smart decisions in order to take care of our bathrooms, then there would not be any problems to begin with and students would not have to endure so many obstacles just for using the restroom.
