The number of vandalism incidents in the Portsmouth High School bathrooms has increased from messes, like someone throwing their lunch all over the floor, to someone breaking soap dispensers and ripping stall doors off the hinges. Vandals are ruining the ability to use PHS’s bathrooms by doing destructive things instead of using them for what they are meant to be used for, and the administration is taking action to stop it.
Since vandals have defaced several bathrooms, some bathrooms are closed and covered by plastic and desks block the way. This greatly inconveniences innocent students because they now have to walk to a floor to an open bathroom, sometimes even to different floors. Many students and teachers are upset by the closed bathrooms because of destructive behavior.
According to the PHS administration, they have been increasing the frequency of bathroom checks and requesting that teachers keep an eye on them to discourage vandalism. They also keep track of the times when the bathrooms were checked and compare them to when vandalism occurred.
The administration aims to reduce damage and messes and to keep people safe. They use a multi-prong approach that shows they are more present in the school by being out in the halls and breakout spaces more often.
The administration mentions that they are very short-handed on custodians and that closing the bathroom takes problems off their plate for a short period. Since there is a need for more custodians, getting things done takes longer.
Dave Drukker, an English teacher at PHS, says, “Students are gone for a long time trying to find a bathroom.” Drukker uses the student bathrooms. He’s seen soap dispensers broken off the walls and urine on the floor.
Lucas Bromfield, a junior at PHS, has been inconvenienced by bathroom closures due to vandalism. He has said it has taken him five minutes to find a bathroom.
“I went from Monsters Literature down to the Spanish wing because there were no more open bathrooms on that floor,” Bromfield said. He believes teachers should be enforcing the sign in/out sheet.
If you see vandalism anywhere in the building please immediately report it to a teacher or administrator.
Contributors: Jacob Pickering
