Last school year, you could ask any student, “What is one thing that you would change about South High?” and I can guarantee that a good few would mention the bathroom policy. In which there was only one bathroom open on each floor. That bathroom would be all the way at the beginning of the hallway, though there were perfectly good bathrooms  by the end pod that we could have been using. Because there was only one bathroom open, the lines were horrendously long, and students taking classes in the last pod would have to walk all the way down the hallway to use a bathroom with an inevitably long line, before walking all the way back to class. And due to the fact that there was only one set of bathrooms open on each floor, each of them became worn out as the school year went on. There was only one working sink in each bathroom, and sometimes that sink would break, forcing students to use a dilapidated faucet with no soap to wash their hands. The bathrooms were always crowded and students and teachers alike were fed up with this policy.

Luckily, this year, that changed. We now have two bathrooms open on each floor, and it has made life a lot easier. Not only have the lines for the bathroom significantly shortened, but it has made it easier to actually get to the bathroom. Personally, I have most of my classes in the last pod, so it has been extremely helpful to not miss as much class time when taking a simple bathroom break. 

This, though, brings up another conversation. Specifically the locker rooms for athletes. For the past week, the locker rooms have been consistently closed after school, which causes a huge issue for all of the athletes at South. The locker rooms, which are already crowded anyway, being closed leaves an abundance of students with nowhere to change before their practices or games. And with the regular bathrooms being closed after school (and between classes), it makes it hard to find somewhere available to change. Even making the trek to the bathrooms by the field goes to little use because by the time students get out there, the doors aren’t even unlocked. And though there are more spaces to change than the locker rooms, it still causes immense backup which inevitably leads to more students being late to their practices and activities. 

Now, while I’m glad that we have two bathrooms open on each floor during the school day, the current situation is still not ideal for a couple of reasons. The first being that students may not feel comfortable being in the locker rooms due to the gender they identify with. Number two, it’s almost impossible to get in and out of the locker rooms in time, leaving many students stressed and rushing. Now, as a solution to this, after school we could have the bathrooms outside the cafeteria open during sports seasons in addition to the locker rooms. This could alleviate a lot of the traffic congestion coming to and from the locker rooms, as well as help students get to their after school activities on time.