For Sentinel, issues with the bathrooms throughout the school have run rampant during recent years. Slowly, respect for our restrooms has dwindled down to almost nothing, but there’s faith.
It was hard to miss: writing on the walls, broken sinks, rarely stocked stalls, bodily fluids rubbed over the entirety of the toilet’s stall. There was always a problem, and no matter how many complaints were made by students and staff, no one could control students’ delinquent activities occurring at all times of the day. It was almost impossible for janitors to counteract, with every attempt made being in vain: “Students dictate everything when they write stuff. Can’t control them”., said one custodian. The janitorial staff would cover any drawings or writing with paint to try and combat the issue. Addressing the problem seemed to start a war between who was really in power in the restroom. The acknowledgement caused more vandalism to occur, which created a back-and-forth attack between paint and pen.
Renovations were implemented as soon as the 2025-2026 school year started. Immediately, students noticed new metal stalls in the bathroom near the coffee cart and the one above it on the second floor, as those restrooms were notorious for a large population of visitors. The modern-styled stall compartments were soon found to be all over the school, and this change was welcomed with open arms; no more
broken, janky doors or easy, targetable walls wishing to be vandalized. That appreciation was soon lost as people realized the big main problem: the gaps between the stalls.
Some gaps are bigger than others, but one specific stall in the bathroom by the coffee cart was the biggest. Around an inch of room between the door and wall was all it took for the student body to quickly realize an obvious and prevalent invasion of privacy. This caused an awkward interaction for both the person that was using that particular stall and the unfortunate accidental peeping-tom that caught a glance of someone’s private time. When asked about these uncomfortable situations, one student claimed: “I’ve had people peek in on me while I’m [peeing]”.
As of October 24, the bathroom by the coffee cart’s stall gap was sealed with a piece of metal. Before it got covered, however, students got creative with temporarily solving the issue. One innovation seemed to be the most effective, with one peer saying, “The gap was so bad, people were covering [it] with toilet paper”. The toilet paper method soon swept the restroom’s world, being implemented in areas where gaps caused paranoia and insecurity. On that Friday when students walked into the bathroom, however, they realized the toilet paper era was over.
Somehow, at the same time there was a shortage in restroom necessities. “There’s never toilet paper,” one student said, “I had to resort to paper towels, and that’s not something I should have to do”. With the large population at Sentinel High School, it’s hard for janitorial services to restock every bathroom. But some stalls stay empty for days.
The stalls are also infamous for their broken doors. Each door seems to be unique, with none of them opening the same way or having the same locks.
The new locks have occupied and vacant options when the lock slides closed. Tight spaces and poor design leads to most of the interlocking pieces not properly fitting together, causing the doors to either get stuck or not close all the way.
“There are some stalls that don’t lock at all… for the new stalls in the bathroom, the locks don’t work properly”, said one annoyed student who claimed to have someone walk in on them. The issue of the varying opening styles has also further weakened the structure of the stall, with some unaware that they are bending the metal that’s filling the space between the door and the stall when pulling and pushing on the door. This confusion leads to worsened opening/closing mechanics, adding yet another issue to the bathroom’s list.
The sinks have always been problematic. Weak or intense streams force students to seek out the “right” sink to avoid getting sprayed from the high-powered jets of water or ignore any ineffective, slow flowing valves that cause a poor hand-washing experience. When asked about this issue, one student highlighted these problems stating: “[It’s] either a garden hose or a pressure washer.” A majority of sinks in Sentinel are either defective or don’t work. Since it’s the beginning of the school year, most of the previously useless sinks have been mildly repaired, but most are skeptical if the repairs will last.
The bathrooms are a vital part of the school as they affect everybody, especially the janitors. Being expected to monitor the conditions of the restrooms has proven to be a major struggle to the few janitorial staff that we do have. Those that are brave enough to enter the world of the bathrooms had various horror stories to tell, with one anonymous custodian reporting, “I get poop on the walls, bodily fluids where there should not be, and vandalism, yeah. Both of those are real big problems”. The wild behaviors are hard to juggle, and are often outright disgusting. The janitors stressed that it was a hassle to keep up with kids and that the repairs have begun to put a dent in the school’s money.
Students are frustrated with the system that they have set up, and currently, the most tension lies in the boy’s bathrooms. Only a few weeks ago, the men’s bathroom in the 500 building was shut down and chained closed as damages due to vandalism had rendered it useless. The chains were taken down and the doors were opened back up two weeks later. When interviewing the male population of Sentinel about the more prevalent issues regarding their bathrooms specifically, one described the destruction: “It’s the trenches. No stall doors, no urinal dividers, nothing. Like there’s chains on some of the bathrooms”. Another pointed out the obvious double standard that, “We got nice [renovations around school], why can’t they fix our bathrooms?”
The disaster that is the bathrooms at Sentinel High School has only gotten worse. The state they are in now has developed some form of normalcy that is destined to stay the same. There is little change of Sentinel ever achieving a completely tame restroom environment, but there is always room for improvement. One quote from our janitorial staff could be used to sum up what needs to be done: “Pick up after yourself, yeah?”.
