It’s a classic stereotype: young students coming into high school imagine: seniors shoving freshmen into lockers, kids smoking in the bathroom and a world of embarrassment.

And like stereotypes, they’re overblown and generalized, but in some cases, closer to home.

The “Rules”

Students share common understanding and knowledge, especially around high school bathrooms. “Personally, when I go to the bathroom I like privacy, usually there is a lot going on in the bathrooms in between periods with other kids,” Alex Duprey ’25 said. Other common knowledge students pass around:

“Don’t go to the bathroom during lunch.”

“Don’t use the sophomore bathroom, there are always way too many people.”

“When there are free feminine hygiene products or change for the product machines left for girls in the bathroom, that’s helpful.”

“Just go to the locker room bathroom.”

“Don’t go before class.”

“It’s nice when there are positive messages left on notes in the girls bathroom.”

“Yeah, you don’t want to be in there before period five.’’

“Use the first stall.”

“Don’t go to the far end of the bathroom.”

The Problems

Basically, it seems that large groups of people hanging in the bathroom never have a good outcome. “There is an obvious vaping problem, and some damage to our bathrooms,” said assistant principal Joe Greaves. Not only is behavior a problem in bathrooms, but more often some students think the bathrooms are places to go if they need to cool off or have a minute to get over social problems. However, even though it’s a private space, it doesn’t offer the kind of help students are often looking for. “Well, the bathroom is not the appropriate place for that,” Greaves said. “If you have something emotionally bugging you, you can go to Guidance, or we have places you can come and cool down.”

New Students Test Boundaries

Most new students coming into high school might think older students cause more of the problems, but we shouldn’t be so quick to make assumptions, according to Greaves. “The problems we are seeing come from our underclassmen, and the sophomore hall bathroom is the one with the most frequent issues,” Greaves said.  A senior echoed this fact. “I find that the upperclassmen are just over it, and it’s not cool to hang out in the bathroom,” Emily Straetz ’23 said. “Where for the underclassmen, it’s still what what some think is cool, even though it’s really not.”

The Bottomline

Problems in the bathroom are nothing new, and administration wants students to know they are never tolerated. “How can you be doing the best you can academically if you hangout in the bathroom during your class time?” Greaves said. The positive side is it’s a small number of kids who abuse bathroom privileges and it’s getting better. “The problems are regressing and students are learning from the consequences,” Greaves said. “I would say that while bathrooms seem like a major problem, there’s also a reminder that in a school of almost 500 kids, there are a lot of students who use the bathroom appropriately.”