Kennedy decided to make their bathroom policies stricter by checking the bathroom passes at the end of every week to see why students are always using the bathroom during class, as well as monitoring the bathroom, and only allowing three or four students into each gender bathroom, which were policies set up last year but are being enforced to a higher extent this year. Students also can’t bring their backpacks into the bathroom.
Due to these policies changing, people who don’t normally use the bathroom can’t during emergencies due to the actions of people who use it every day. Most of the time they either walk around or hang out with friends. I get the change of the policy because they want to fix that student’s ditch and stay out of class for too long saying that they’re using the bathroom.
But why are other students being punished for others’ actions? It’s also weird that Kennedy closes A building restrooms at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day. Also, during lunch, they only have A building and the village restrooms open, which makes it harder for people to get to class on time, depending on where their next class is. This happens because the lines for both bathrooms are way too long and people have to wait a while before they can even go use the bathroom.
Senior Diego Jerez stated, “I believe that the stricter rules are punishing students who don’t do wrong. The lines to the bathrooms are too long, and they cause kids to be late or leave during class causing issues with learning.”
This is very true because this causes interruptions for teachers constantly hearing the same question ‘Can I use the bathroom?’ which will get annoying, which also causes students to fall behind due to always asking to use the bathroom. Wouldn’t it just be easier to watch the students who use the bathroom a lot during class?
But why is Kennedy getting stricter with their policies? That’s a question to ask Assistant Principal Natalie Brewer-Petrossian, to see why things have changed or haven’t changed.
“Kennedy High School bathroom policies have not changed. Any student needing use of a restroom has access,” stated Petrossian.
The issue that most people, me included, is that most bathrooms are closed, even more so than last year. But now students either go to A building and wait forever and be late to class, or go to the village and still be late for class. It all depends on where your next class is. Plus, half of your lunch has to go to waiting in line just to use the bathroom.
But the staff themselves aren’t the only ones here who should be taking most of the blame, as the students themselves also had a play in this. Vaping and vandalizing the bathroom? That’s just disrespectful;, yes, I will say that the new bathroom policies are kind of dumb, but the reason behind it isn’t.
“This policy was made a little tougher because of students doing drugs in the bathroom in the first place,” stated anonymous
The main cause of these stricter policies is the actions of the students, vaping, and dealing drugs in the bathroom and around campus.
I understand why they made the policies tougher on the students, but I think it would just be easier to open up the bathrooms during lunch and in the morning or allow more students to go into the bathroom, not just three or four students.
