Each day at the conclusion of every class period at Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech), students scatter out of their classrooms, each going their separate ways. However there appears to be one place (technically two) where students tend to congregate: the school bathroom. This is understandable; after two hours someone is bound to need to use the bathroom. Yet upon pushing open the door (if one manages to not hit the person standing behind the door), one is slammed with either a fruity or sewage-like smell — or worse, a strange concoction of both. The room itself is no more than a couple square feet, crammed with 10 people, only half of which actually need to use the bathroom. 

Although it may seem petty to criticize a school bathroom, students should be guaranteed some basic necessities like soap, paper towels and toilet paper — all of which have been unavailable at one point or another this school year. Wet hands that are unsanitized are not only awkward but also are the reason why every class is regularly filled with sniffles and coughs so loud it is near impossible to pay attention. Whether it is Mr. Powers’ extra long tests, Mr. Fitz’s hours of lecturing or Mr. Geib’s myriad of in-class essays, sickness runs rampant in Foothill Tech classrooms. 

There are many places where students go to get out of class: parking lots, pods and the quad, to name a few. Most notably, however, the bathrooms have always been a safe haven for students to seek refuge in an attempt to escape their heavy workload. Many students excuse themselves from certain classes simply to escape the burden of their work. 

Those who actually have the need to use the bathroom, however, are the true victims of those who treat each stall like a break room. Those with a serious need to go often find themselves watching the ticking of the clock, waiting in anticipation for the person who signed out half an hour ago to return.

Once students arrive at the bathroom, they are welcomed by a critical lack of soap and paper towels, yet an abundance of gossip and air polluted by vaping. Sometimes, if one is lucky, they are also greeted with kind messages of self-love graffitied on stall doors. If they are unlucky, the messages will be disturbing enough to ruin your day. 

The horrors of the bathrooms do not actually end once students leave the actual location. Once back to their respective classrooms, if teachers do not supply students with hand sanitizer, they are forced to ask fellow classmates for any kind of cleaning agent that they might have in their backpacks, often embarrassing themselves in the process. This potentially could lead others to believe that they intentionally did not wash their hands when they were unable to do so.

This issue is clearly not just the fault of the staff and faculty. The state of Foothill Tech’s bathrooms is the result of all those who use it, whatever their purpose may be. The disregard and selfishness of students has led them to be this way. Thank goodness for Foothill Tech’s janitorial staff, as they provide the school with an excellent state of cleanliness, but are forced to clean up after the careless nature of these teenagers.  

Although it may seem trivial to criticize the school bathrooms, it is always nice to expect these necessary school facilities to be actually usable.