With the new bathrooms now implemented here at AHS, the student population is not here for it.

The new bathrooms are now gender-neutral; with that there are obvious pros and cons, the main con being how dirty they are. The cleanliness of the bathrooms at Albemarle has always been a problem from urine on the seats to a lack of soap and paper towels, but now it’s coming up more than ever because of shared stalls

“It causes a false sense of security, that students can do whatever they want in there.” Junior Aarjit Karki said. “I feel repulsed to go in there.”

“I am so tired of using the bathroom in filthy conditions,” Junior Madison Davis said. 

Students as a whole need to be educated on how to act in bathrooms when there are no eyes on them. It is sad but true that students need to have some basic respect for the person after them. 

Lack of toilet paper, paper towels and soap have come up a lot in complaints about the new bathrooms. Head custodian Glynn Baker mentioned that the custodians check 2-3 times daily for toilet paper and other necessities, but with 2,000 students using only 24 stalls upstairs and downstairs they tend to run out. If you are a student and you notice these items have run out, you can report it to the main office or a Student Support staffer. 

Baker also mentioned that he will be checking the handles on all the single stalls, after multiple reports of locks breaking off and trapping students inside.

The lack of hygiene products in the individual stalls has also been a huge issue so far. The single stalls currently don’t have menstrual products, which are basic necessities that must be added to all bathrooms. Principal Darah Bonham mentioned talks in the future about the plan moving forward for adding those products, but as of now, there is no plan. 

The overall staff population are all for the new bathrooms, because it has helped with the vaping issue and made life easier for them. But then again, they don’t have to use the new bathrooms everyday, and they don’t experience the issues students do. The word of students is not listened to or considered enough. At the end of the day, it’s students who need a comfortable learning environment.

The bathrooms were implemented because of reports on students feeling unsafe in “gang bathrooms,” as superintendent Matt Haas calls them. Now with the new bathrooms, students think twice before even using them. We had a problem, and in the process of fixing it, we have created a lot of new ones. 

Putting this much effort — and approximately $1 million — into bathrooms that are generally disliked by the people using them was not worth it. Students deserve a place where they can be comfortable simply going to the bathroom, and these bathrooms do not deliver.