Unlock the Bathrooms
By QLH ‘08
Have you ever needed to use the bathroom and walked away in frustration because the bathroom was locked? Have you ever wondered why the bathrooms are always locked ten minutes before and ten minutes after the bell?
Rules are made to provide guidelines for actions. However, when rules are and cause inconveniences for people who have to follow them, they should be revised. Back when I was a freshman, the bathrooms were not locked in between periods. According to the dean, a new rule was implemented in 2006 that made bathrooms unavailable the first ten minutes before and ten minutes after the bell.
“The current rule is too much of an inconvenience for us because most of our teachers tell us to go before coming to class and how can we do that if the bathroom is locked?,” said Lanson Wong ’08.
Freshmen and sophomores have lunch periods. Juniors and seniors generally do not have a lunch period for them to use the bathroom. For many students, it is difficult to find spare time to go and use the bathroom. Students who want to use the bathroom after their last class of the day find themselves waiting a good ten minutes before being able to use the bathroom. Another reason why people don’t want to go during the class is because they might miss important information in class.
“It’s stupid when I have a double period class and can’t go to the bathroom during the breaks,” said David Chen ’08.
“I find it ridiculous that we have to wait ten minutes into the period in order to use the bathroom, especially if it's your last class,” said Jennifer Wong ’08.
In addition to causing inconveniences to students, teachers don’t like it either. Many teachers dislike it when students ask to leave the room and some of teachers have limits on how many people can go in that particular period.
When questioned as to why this rule was made, Assistant Principal Security Richard Franzese replied that the rule was made for security reasons.
“Locking the bathrooms ten minutes before and after the bell and during passing improve traffic in the halls. Students tend to go to the bathroom during passing and thus are late to class. By closing the bathrooms during this time interval, the hallways clear up much faster and fewer students are late to class. It also prevents students from cutting by hanging out in the bathrooms. Lastly, the bathrooms are kept in better condition with extra time given to the custodians to work with,” said Mr. Franzese.
“There are exceptions to everything. If there are ever any emergencies or medical needs, the bathrooms will be opened. The current policy is working out fine. Hallway traffic improved significantly ever since the new policy. There will be no plans to change the policy anytime soon. In response to student inconveniences, we put safety and security reasons above personal reasons,” said Mr. Franzese.
Even though the bathroom policy has good intentions, it is very unpopular. Many students simply do not understand why the policy exists. I for one, will never understand why someone would want to hang out in the bathroom. Stating that closing the bathrooms to prevent cutting just isn’t a justifiable reason to close them. If students want to cut class, they are going to cut class regardless. Weighing the benefits against discontent, the Midwood staff will hopefully amend the current policy with consideration to both the convenience and the well being of the student.
This is the "argus" version. I would have put it in a more vulgar way because I feel without the caps and cursing it doesnt get to the point. But then it has to be PG13 so censorship 4tw.
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