Using the bathroom is a necessary human function. Not being able to use the bathroom, or prolonged stalling of those functions can cause a myriad of medical issues.

One of our school nurses stated, “I have been a nurse for… years and I can completely agree to the fact that holding in your urine for long periods of time… can be very detrimental to your health.”

“They could lead to UTIs [urinary tract infections]. If these UTIs go untreated, it could progress to kidney damage and also, just maybe down the line, to episodes of incontinence where you could no longer hold in your urine and you will urinate yourself,” the nurse continues.

However, the bathrooms NHHS students have access to make it extremely difficult to consistently take care of their basic bodily functions.

Students spend a bit more than seven hours a day at school, not counting transportation and extracurriculars. That much time without using the bathroom is unhealthy and shows lack of oversight on the school’s part.

“I don’t understand how you can be cutting off access to restrooms for children, for teenagers…Whether it’s female personal issues during that ‘time of the month,’ or whether it is just weak bladders…How are you going to put all these students on a time constraint of when they are allowed and where they are allowed to use the restroom,” stated the nurse.

Many students dread having to use the bathroom at school for various reasons. James Sean, whose name has been changed for safety reasons, feels,”It’s really hard to use the restrooms when all the bangers [troubled kids] are standing in front of them… I feel like I have to prepare myself in case I walk into them,” he explained.

“[I] wait until half way through a period and then I go to the ones up top [second story C-building] because the ones up top are the ones that have a dean watching them like the whole time no matter what,” he says.

John Doe, whose name has also been changed due to safety concerns, stated, “Also the [gang]bangers, it’s gotten to the point where anytime I see it’s packed in the bathroom with smokers and stuff like that, I get out and go to a completely different one in hopes that I don’t have to run into them, but in the worst case scenario I just go in.”

School bathroom conditions at NHHS are far from satisfactory. Not only are the bathrooms a threatening environment, they are also an extraordinary source of secondhand smoke, “The group of people that hang around them… I just don’t like it, ” stated Sean.

Another detrimental issue is the amount of secondhand smoke constantly flowing through the bathrooms. Oftentimes kids that ditch classes to smoke take up stalls and contaminate the air with dangerous vaping product chemicals.

Audrey Jurado, an asthmatic student, said “I’ve honestly gotten used to it and it does kind of feel suffocating at times, but I think after like how much we’ve seen it, it doesn’t bug my asthma as much as it used to,” in reference to the secondhand smoke.

“There’s always people smoking in there too and I just don’t like that, so I just kind of avoid them as much as I could, because why would I go into something where I don’t feel comfortable?” stated Sean.

Generally, there are divides in quality of bathrooms when it comes to gender as well. The boys bathrooms are much dirtier and feel less secure than the girls bathrooms although, smoking is still an issue in them both.

According to the CDC, “There is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke; even brief exposure can cause immediate harm.” 

In order to combat the issue of smokers and ditchers in the bathrooms, Mr. Duarte, a dean, explained that adult presence deters kids that take advantage, leading to bathrooms that are more efficient.

When dealing with smokers, Mr. Duarte clarified that the school has no real power to deal with the issue. All the school can do is notify parents and request permission to put the child in counseling because of current legislation.

Staff does confiscate the tools that kids use to smoke, but that is the only preventative measure that can really be taken. 

The Randolph bathrooms have a unique problem of their own: their stalls are too short. Being able to see and be seen by the person next to you using the restroom is uncomfortable and awkward in the best cases.

It is extremely unsanitary in the restrooms as well. Many students are reluctant to properly aim at urinals and toilets and many others leave trash strewn about in their wake.

Doe stated, “They’re so dirty, like to the point where even if I did go and I’m lucky to be alone and actually use the bathroom or the toilet, it’s so dirty I don’t even want to [use it] to the point where I just hold it in until like afterschool when I get home, and like at that point I’m like…I’m gonna get kidney stones.”

Soap and toilet paper is hard to come by in most of the school bathrooms. Paper towels, menstrual products, and recently even trash cans are virtually nonexistent.

Ms. Rojas, a teacher here at NOHO stated, “Sometimes the water in the sink is like yellow…so I’m like, should I wash my hands with this yellow water? Should I not?” 

She mentions as well that the toilet paper is locked, demonstrating that it is not only the student bathrooms that have room for improvement.

With the new construction and demolishing of buildings throughout the school, it is understandable that there would be some issues. 

On January 12th, 2024, Mr. Duarte stated, “Right now we’re having plumbing issues, so the bathrooms if they’re being closed up or being moved around… that’s because there’s plumbing issues that are occurring…it being a new [C-]building you know, sometimes things come up that weren’t expected, other times there’s students that mess up the bathroom.” 

What is not understandable though is having to run laps around the school to find an open bathroom. Oftentimes bathrooms are closed without warning and that makes it difficult for students to use their time efficiently both in class and during passing periods.

“They are inconsistent in their openings, so basically if I want to go somewhere I have to check beforehand because I could just be wasting my time,” Doe expresses.

Although there has been improvement from the bathroom conditions of years prior, there is still a great deal that the school can improve on, but has not yet made a substantial effort towards. 

As Mr. Duarte himself stated, “I wish there was a solution to it,  but again we’re talking about a small group of students that are creating an unpleasant experience for the rest of the students.”