Last week, Smoky had to close some of its bathrooms due to vandalism. This is an issue as the school has less bathrooms to accommodate the teachers and students and shows how disrespectful some students can be.

Early last semester, there was a trend that involved students taking school property. It has since ended but has risen again in the form of destruction and not stealing. The janitors had to remove pieces from some of the bathrooms that had been broken.

Not only had students vandalized the bathrooms, but they had also smashed the glass on one of the trophy cases in the school.

According to an Algonquin Highschool newspaper from 2019, bathroom vandalism cost, depending on what was done, can range from $800 to over $3,000. An older newspaper from The Eagle-Tribune said that vandalism costs for repairing windows in some schools can be upwards of $6,000 to $12,000 depending on how much damage was done. These costs may not include having to hire workers to fix them or replace them. 

Although Smoky’s vandalism issues may not be this severe, it can become so if not handled quickly. If the students responsible are caught, they and their families are the ones who have to pay for the repairs. Making everyone unhappy.

The closing of the bathrooms will do nothing to stop the vandalism, it will just move it on to other things. The students responsible or other students have already gone on to smashing glass, what’s to say they won’t move on to other objects or equipment in the school?

Students shouldn’t resort to vandalizing school property just to make a point or for their own enjoyment. Although the problems have started to lessen with the vandalism, students should still know that it happened. The repercussion after the vandalism is much more troublesome than doing it, nobody is happy with any outcome to the situation.