The 2021 year has brought much positivity, as students arrive back to their school seeing their peers and other classmates. Amid this time, issues are occurring within the bathrooms which consist of constant vandalism and destruction. A rise in a TikTok trend, known as the “Devious lick challenge” promotes school students to vandalize and steal items, primarily in bathrooms, where detection is less noticeable. Other forms of vandalism, such as graffiti, are also present within the bathrooms.
“I’ve been seeing a lot of graffiti in the bathrooms recently. Most of the graffiti I see is usually inappropriate, and others just want to leave their mark on the walls with a graffiti tag,” senior David Kim said.
A graffiti tag usually consists of a symbol or numeral symbols that signify the graffitist. Graffiti tags are usually marked with a permanent marker or pen and are very difficult to remove.
“They need to stop,” said Officer Willingham.
With the rise in vandalism, faculty and staff members have decided to close down multiple bathrooms. This can typically range from one on each floor closed or having only one open in the entire school. “I had to use the restroom and my class was on the first floor, but all the doors were locked on the first two floors. I ended up having to go up three floors to find a bathroom and since that was one of the only boy’s bathrooms, I had to wait in a line,” senior Ayush Jain said.
“I just want to use the bathroom,” said senior Tim Park.
The closures have caused difficulty for students trying to access a bathroom and have also heavily affected the custodial team. Due to the severity of the vandalism, many bathrooms were shut down to minimize damage.
A more recent incident involved a student who wrote an inappropriate message on the bathroom wall. It encouraged students to go to the bathroom after period 5 and as the day progressed, more and more students found out about the message. As period 5 ended, many students tried to enter the bathroom, but it was blocked by faculty members.
“I was trying to get to my class, but the whole hallway was blocked by a hundred or so people. I didn’t know what was going on,” freshman Aidan Barbosa said.
This disrupted many trying to enter their classrooms in the area, as the hallway was packed with people trying to enter the bathrooms.
As November progresses, there seems to be no end to the vandalism. It can be seen by many who use the bathrooms regularly. Paper towels and trash litter the floors, and toilets are clogged on purpose. Many find these behaviors inappropriate and childish.
Overall, the recent incidents have caused frustration among students, staff, and custodial staff. Hopefully, everything settles down throughout this month, but as of right now things do not look like they are going away anytime soon.
Treat the school with respect, as this building serves as an opportunity.