Boys’ bathrooms are usually not the most pleasant places when it comes to school, but when students go out of their way to trash it, it can be unfortunate for the other students that need to use the bathroom.

Nearing a month ago the English wing bathroom at Portsmouth High School was closed down due to a student urinating in a corner of the bathroom and was recently reopened, but not for long. On the same day that the bathroom reopened, and one student says that it was immediately closed down again due to more urination on the floor. However, this is not the first incident of the bathrooms being closed. 

Arthur Ashley, head of custodian staff at PHS, complained that sometimes actions like these can happen twice in one day. Ashley believes that actions like these are unacceptable and if you wouldn’t do it at home why would you do it here. 

Ashley spoke for himself and his team when he explained that they do not just do this as a job, they are here because they care for the people of the building and it’s hurtful to them because some individuals do not feel the same way.

 There was even a time where the custodian staff had to clean fecal matter off the lid of the toilet. Ashley feels it’s degrading because he and his team are the people who clean it. In the past people have even stolen soap dispensers. When the event occurred it was not publicly known to people who had stolen the dispensers, but many had their suspicions that it was more than just one person or group of people.

Ashley states that people should leave the bathroom just as how it was when they walked in. He goes on to explain that the bathrooms are clean for the students at the beginning of the day for everyone and it’s unfortunate that people take it for granted.  

Offensive images  and messages 

Still to this day the bathrooms seem to receive vandalism. Many students and staff have  seen “degrading” words, and things that would be carved/scraped in the bathrooms. In the past, a girls’ bathroom was closed down due to hurtful words and images on one of the stalls. 

Daniel McAllister, a PHS senior, says “It’s disappointing because this school represents me.” McAllister feels that whoever has been doing it should receive some type of consequence.

Ashley feels upset when it comes to offensive words and vandalism because he believes that this school has no place for offensive things. Ashley thinks that this building should be a safe space.

Bathrooms Closing Down

Additionally, students that were interviewed are bothered that they must walk farther to reach an available bathroom due to all the vandalism. Mr Drukker, an English teacher at PHS,  feels sympathetic for the students who have to walk to the next open bathroom.

Please speak to the administration if anyone has any information on who is vandalizing or mistreating the bathrooms at PHS.