It’s 7:06 a.m. and I have less than four minutes to get to class. I woke up late and I had to rush in the morning and I want to make sure my outfit looks okay. Luckily I have enough time to go to the bathroom with the huge mirror and it is right next to my class. As I turn the corner that leads to that bathroom I’m shocked to see that once again that bathroom it out of order. Next thing I know, not only am I late, but I don’t look as good as I would’ve liked either.

I know I’m not the only girl who is curious as to why the bathroom next to the Math Resource Center is constantly out of order. As an average teenage girl, that bathroom is my favorite because it has such a large mirror and it is right in the center of the school, but recently I’ve been required to go to other bathrooms, and to be frank – It’s getting a little frustrating.

Maintenance around the school is not cheap, and things don’t magically fix themselves. This school is in the great shape it’s in because of four extremely dedicated members of the maintenance staff. That’s right – there are only four members on the maintenance team at Smoky Hill and they are sick and tired of students being so mindless when it comes to the public spaces that they provide and maintain.

Right now there is currently a plumbing leak in the second stall in the girls bathroom by the math resource center. Maintenance found massive wads of toilet paper in the pipes. This is not the first time the toilets have been clogged this year. Other times, they found wads of paper towels and even entire rolls of toilet paper in the plumbing. Throwing entire wads of toilet paper down the toilet is intentionally destructive. There is really no way that can happen by accident, and that is unacceptable.

There are problems with the plumbing on a daily basis, and not just in this specific bathroom. Students are breaking the toilet paper dispensers for no reason, to the point where they can no longer be repaired and must be completely replaced. Each of those dispensers costs about $30 and there are 10 bathrooms with multiple dispensers ending up broken in every bathroom on a daily basis. That adds up very quickly.

The amount of disrespect students seem to have for the bathrooms and maintenance in general is really not okay. There is only one solution, and that is to realize how hard maintenance works just so we can have such clean and useful spaces. Students need to cut the crap. Literally.

 
Students as a whole have got to start treating this school with more care. This is a second home to most of us and I think we need to start treating it that way.