Dec. 1, 2009
Bathrooms closed at lunch
The bathrooms on the second and third floors are now locked during 5A and 5B lunches due to a new bathroom policy that began at the start of the second quarter, according to security guard Adrian Kelly. Building service and security workers implemented the new policy due to security shortages.
SGA President senior Alex Bae held a meeting with Principal Darryl Williams on Monday concerning the changes to the policy. Williams voiced his support of having the bathrooms open and fully functional in the near future and is taking steps towards this goal. "We've spoken to the admin about it and they're in complete agreement with us on the issue, so I trust the policy will make its way through in good time," Bae said.
Kelly maintained that the new policy is necessary, as the second and third floors are short on security during lunch time. "The majority of students hang in Blair Boulevard, and we are focused on keeping kids on school grounds," he said. "We have a shortage of security."
Blair staff speculated that vandalism and student abuse of bathroom privileges have also prompted security to introduce the new policy. "Most bathrooms are vandalized during lunch," Building Services Manager Yakubu Agbonselobho said. Economics teacher Brian Hinkle believes that the vandalism led to the new policy. "Supposedly, certain things have taken place like vandalism," he said. "So, they lock them up during lunch."
Custodian Marianne Christopher also noted that some students skip class in the bathroom. "A lot of kids hide out in there," she said. Security team leader Cedric Boatman declined to comment on other reasons for the new policy.
Contrary to informal policy requirements, second and third floor bathrooms are sometimes locked throughout regular class periods. "A lot of my kids complain, because they have to go to the bathroom," Hinkle said. Christopher, who locks the bathrooms, emphasized that the policy only requires building service workers to lock the bathrooms during lunch hours. "I open them 20 minutes after 12 [p.m.]," she said.
Second and third floor bathrooms were closed at lunch during most of second quarter.
Kelly maintained that the new policy is necessary, as the second and third floors are short on security during lunch time. "The majority of students hang in Blair Boulevard, and we are focused on keeping kids on school grounds," he said. "We have a shortage of security."
Blair staff speculated that vandalism and student abuse of bathroom privileges have also prompted security to introduce the new policy. "Most bathrooms are vandalized during lunch," Building Services Manager Yakubu Agbonselobho said. Economics teacher Brian Hinkle believes that the vandalism led to the new policy. "Supposedly, certain things have taken place like vandalism," he said. "So, they lock them up during lunch."
Custodian Marianne Christopher also noted that some students skip class in the bathroom. "A lot of kids hide out in there," she said. Security team leader Cedric Boatman declined to comment on other reasons for the new policy.
Contrary to informal policy requirements, second and third floor bathrooms are sometimes locked throughout regular class periods. "A lot of my kids complain, because they have to go to the bathroom," Hinkle said. Christopher, who locks the bathrooms, emphasized that the policy only requires building service workers to lock the bathrooms during lunch hours. "I open them 20 minutes after 12 [p.m.]," she said.
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where else would we go, the lunchroom? nah....
That aside, considering all the storming off to presumably see a fight in the SAC today... I'm occasionally inclined to think that administration/security is justified in attempting to increase security, as long as they always try to lessen the impact on the vast, vast majority of students that aren't a security threat.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/high-school/school-closes-bathrooms-becaus.html
Read it and leave comments so that it gets more attention. I am tired of missing class searching for a bathroom and I believe that it makes everyone less clean meaning more sickness is spread throughout the school day.
Also, the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County is fighting this issue as well. Show your support and we might get our "bathroom privileges," which I view as a basic right not a optional allowance, back soon.
they keep em locked after school too so that people in clubs can't use them
This school gets more fascist every day...
So let me get this straight... locking the bathrooms on the second floor prevents people from skipping class because there's absolutely NO WAY they could use a bathroom on the first floor? Has anyone ever seen a security guard check that bathroom?
So now everyone, including class cutters have to pack into half of the first floor... I'm sure that's a fire hazard, not to mention packing us like sardines is just GREAT for school spirit.
Williams, maybe we'll respect the school when you start respecting us.
HOWEVER, not unlike everything that administration and security say, the policy is a lie. Some complain of bathrooms being locked before lunch; others complain that they're never unlocked after lunch. Bathrooms (particularly in the 10's hallways) all over the building are frequently locked during the day, and all bathrooms in the school except for one or two are closed after 2:15, making life incrementally more difficult for those who linger after the bell (magnet students, extracurricular-holics, etc).
The afternoon/evening shift custodians are friendly, hardworking people. Unfortunately, the day shift janitors (i.e. the people who directly impact our day-to-day routines) collectively exhibit tyrannical tendencies. They remind me of that guy back at Takoma who yelled at us during lunch that "I'm not here to clean up after you!" No, sorry, actually you are.
I forgot about that whole "you're in 11th grade now" thing.
we got on local news too!
Something no one yet has pointed out- half the school is still IN CLASS during period 5. So if someone wants to, say, use the bathroom BEFORE they're locked during their lunch period, they can't, because for kids with 5A classes, the bathrooms are already locked. And kids who go to Academic Support during their lunch periods find that they can't go unless they get a pass to go all the way down to the lunch room. So if kids have a class 5A and then lunch 5B and go to Academic Support- sorry, you're out of a place to pee. Besides, the bathrooms MOST vandalized are the ones BY THE SAC- because the entire school is forced to use two single bathrooms for an hour and a half. Not only does this make them gross and noisy, they're constantly filled with people- so you could run all the way across the school and not be able to use them.
And it's not just vandalizers you're punishing- most of the school does NOT draw all over walls- if we did, this school would look more like a freaky sharpie mural than the fairly clean school it is. It's not OUR faults that people draw on bathrooms- if you want them to stop vandalizing, then punish them some other way. Most of them vandalize using their full names, so it shouldn't be that hard. (Real smart, guys.)
Yesterday there were TWO fights during 5B lunch. And guess where they were? Right by the bathrooms. So many people hang out by those 2 bathrooms by the SAC that it's almost impossible to move through the thick crowd- which ends up having kids knock in to each other and inevitably causing fights. Sounds like a safety hazard, right? Not to mention the chaos it causes in the lunch room- things spill and fall over as kids run by to see the commotion- just a bit more cleaning up for you :)
What I don't get is why these bathrooms are closed at LUNCH. If kids skip in the bathrooms, don't you think it makes more sense to have them OPEN in lunch? No one skips lunch. That's ridiculous. If you have a 5th period class you'd skip in the SAC or outside- not that I've done that- but you already have security guards and cameras there for that and other purposes.
And if you're gonna skip in the bathroom, the best one to do it in is the crazy crowded one at the SAC. So many kids are there, it's impossible to catch kids who are skipping. (Though why people hang out in bathrooms is really confusing to me. That's GROSS, guys.)
So, based on that reasoning- WE SHOULDN'T EVEN HAVE BATHROOMS! They make people vandalize and skip and are a greater problem during classes than at lunch- so let's just close them all day! Why even HAVE bathrooms if we can't use them- let's just convert them all to classrooms and have more space and use less money- win-win all around! It makes more sense than what you're doing now- and this doesn't make sense at ALL.
Vandalizing and skipping are a problem. But don't take it out on our bladders. Thanks.
what if some poor kid is on the 3rd floor and he/she is urgent to go to the bathroom....he/she has to runn alll the way downstairs....ANd it will be crowded during lunch...
no but really... this is not a great policy
http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2009/10/footloose-comes-to-potomac.html
The next Board of Education meeting is December 8th and Blair students need to be there to give public comment, just like the Churchill HS students/parents did when their play was cancelled. The Churchill students filled the Board room and got their play rescheduled.
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/boe/meetings/index.aspx#calendar
http://mocosmob.blogspot.com/
Recently, Superintendent Jerry Weast proposed closing Monocacy Elementary School in Dickerson, MD. Their Board of Education representative is Judy Docca. Judy Docca was the Board member that introduced a resolution to oppose the closure. Her resolution passed.
When the Churchill High School play was cancelled by the Principal 3 weeks before opening night the Superintendent sent an administrator to intervene and overturn the principal's decision - within 24 hours.
How is a play worthy of the Superintendent & Board's attention but thousands of students denied access to bathrooms is not?
Whatever, I hope that the fact this story has now hit a nation-wide paper will cause Williams to realize he made a big mistake in letting security come up with this idea.
Like if were going to make up BS excuses can you at least make them good?
The whole logic behind this is wack. Who goes to the bathroom to skip during lunch? Answer: no one. They all go down to the first floor, obviously.
And when has security ever checked bathrooms? In my four years at blair, I haven't seen them do that once.
Its amazing to me that the admin would be so quick to make a change that limits our right (not privilege) to easy access to bathrooms, especially on the basis of such bad logic.
Limiting 2814 students to 2 bathrooms for 5a-8th period in insane!
That's quite an improvement in living conditions!
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