The bathrooms at CHS have always been -to varying degrees- a problem, with little improvements to help fix them by administration. During the 2022-2023 school year, the bathroom mirrors were taken away from the walls and instead put on the ceiling, where no one could properly see themselves. While this year the mirrors were added back to eye-level, there is still much more to be done to improve the bathrooms at CHS.
The bathrooms always seem to be dirty, at any time of the day. While it may seem that maintenance cleans them every day, there is never a time in the day when the floors are not wet, the toilet paper is not out, or the soap dispensers are not empty.
While in most schools, this issue is a regular, drugs at CHS are a rising cause of the dirty bathrooms. Students find the bathroom as the safest place to do drugs, with no regard for how they will keep it. Junior Sophia Demian says “They are usually dirty [and] there’s always a lot of toilet paper and toilet water on the floor, and the toilets are never flushed.” Stalls are left dirty and even full for students who want to use the restroom. Many students don’t see the need to clean the restrooms, believing ‘someone else will clean it up.’
One potential solution for the dirty bathrooms at CHS would be to maintain a cleaning schedule for maintenance. After talking to the plant management staff at CHSl, it became apparent that they have a schedule, but they only take place after lunch and school. While the crew seems to clean the bathrooms only twice a day, a good schedule would be to clean at the beginning of the third/fourth period of the block scheduled days. Since maintenance already has a lot on their hands in cleaning the school, a possible help could be hiring more staff to help clean the school. Many students will have to go right at the start of class, and this would propose a better time to clean the bathrooms. Then, after lunch, cleaning could take place. Lastly, maintenance could clean the restrooms, rinse and repeat the cycle for the rest of the week.
Another solution to address the problem of students lingering in the bathrooms would be to bring back the forms the staff attempted to bring in during the 2022-2023 school year. Students would fill in a form for the bathroom, which would monitor how long they took to use the restroom. This would help clear bathrooms and maintain them for their actual use, instead of a social hangout for students.
A final solution to help the drug problems in the bathrooms would be more encouragement of extracurriculars on campus such as sports, arts, or clubs. These activities promote healthy alternatives compared to the bad habits that drugs impose. Sophomore swimmer Ruby Mankowski claims “You can’t do drugs and be good at a sport.” The encouragement of sports on campus can push students into healthy habits and continue to thrive in that activity.
Varsity water polo sophomore, Taylor Credle claimed that “Good health is needed for best athletic performance.” Both Mankowski and Credle who are involved in sports at Calabasas High believe that their sports have gotten them out of bad habits such as unhealthy eating and time management skills. The proposed solution can not only help drug issues but can help students with healthier lifestyles.
Overall, the bathrooms at CHS have improved over the recent months because of the mirrors, but have a long way to go to be kept sanitary and drug-free. Proposed solutions such as new cleaning schedules or encouragement of extracurriculars to implement the negative effects of drug use may help improve the status of bathrooms.
