The boy’s bathroom on the third floor has been closed for the vast majority of the first quarter, only being opened recently, which begs the question: Why have they been closed for so long?

The General consensus on why the bathrooms have been closed are repeated behavioral issues, with staff members stating “ Repeat offenders have been vaping/ smoking in the restroom, which is why it was decided that it would be best to keep it closed.” 

While it is a major inconvenience to those with classes on the third floor, the faculty sees it as a necessary safety precaution. Students, however, think it would be better to keep the restroom open, and maybe close it periodically. “It’s such an inconvenience for me when I have classes on the third floor. I want to get to class on time but I also need to use the bathroom. But, now I have to go down to the second or first floor to use the bathroom, and then go back up to the third floor, so then I’m late to class and have a tardy,” said Junior Avery Anderson. 

The staff at South has taken note of these complaints and opened the bathroom on Wednesday, Oct 30th: One day before the end of the quarter. While it is not confirmed by Administration that the bathroom is to stay open permanently, staff members think it could happen if students are responsible. “If those students stop using the bathroom inappropriately, then there would be no reason to keep it closed,” said Associate Educator Alex Endeshaw.

Inciting that if there are no longer any behavioral problems arising from keeping the bathroom open, it will most likely not be closed again. Therefore if students accept responsibility to use the bathroom appropriately, they will remain open, and students who have many classes on the third floor don’t have to walk down to the second floor to use the restroom, taking away from the time spent in class, learning important information.

Junior Davonte Hall, on the other hand, sees the closed bathroom as nothing but a minor inconvenience, stating “ Plan Ahead. If you know you have a class on the third floor, and you also know that you have to use the bathroom, plan accordingly… It’s not that much of an inconvenience to walk down to the second floor to use the bathroom.” Hall continued,“ Stop smoking, and lighting fires in the bathrooms and then maybe they wouldn’t get shut down as much.”

All in all, it’s up to students and how they act inside the bathrooms to determine if they get shut down or not.