I would hate to see the conditions of the bathrooms in the homes of some of the South High boys, because if they treat their home bathrooms the same way they treat the school’s, they can’t be in very good condition.

There is an epidemic at Parkway South. This year, for most of the year, the boys’ bathrooms have been massacred. 

Sinks have been ripped off the walls, and even binders have been shoved down the toilets. 

The only bathrooms that have been open to boys most of the year are the history bathroom, the Commons, the gym bathroom, and the science bathroom. 

There are drastically fewer bathroom options for boys compared to girls, which has become very problematic throughout the course of a long school year.

There are about 800 boys who attend South High, which makes up the majority of the 1500 total population of the school. 

So the boys who make up a greater portion of the school have significantly fewer bathrooms. This is not good, folks. 

As a dude, I am a part of the group who goes to the bathroom to actually use it.

I don’t go there to wreck them and tear them apart. It’s becoming an epidemic, and if another bathroom falls, we may reach a pandemic-level problem. 

For example, in the history bathroom, there are only 2 urinals and 1 stall. For boys that is the only bathroom currently open on the second floor. 

Not only does this issue affect students, but it also affects teachers. The longer a student has to walk to the bathroom it takes away from class time. 

In my own experience, when I have history, I have it downstairs below the second-floor history wing. That means I have to walk upstairs to check if the history bathroom is busy, which most time it is. Then I have to walk all the way to the Commons bathroom. 

This entire process, on average, takes me about 10 minutes! Before this boys’ bathroom epidemic, it took me on average 3-4 minutes to use the bathroom. 

While 5 extra minutes doesn’t seem like a lot, if you use the bathroom multiple times that day and you have classes on the second floor, the time can add up. 

And what is brain-numbing about this issue is that it takes an easy and simple fix. 

No, South High doesn’t need to build more men’s restrooms; they actually don’t need to do anything at all. 

We dudes need to grow up and use the restroom for its intended purpose, which is to go to the bathroom.

It’s not rocket science, people. 

What is not its intended purpose is to clog the toilets, rip sinks off the walls, or massacre the floors.

Elementary schoolers don’t even do this stuff. C’mon, do better!

While the year is winding down to an end, next school year, the important mission for the boys is to respect the restrooms and start fresh, keep the sink on the wall, and keep your binders in your backpack and not the toilet. 

There is a path to change, but everyone needs to buy in.

If our fellow Patriot boys would just simply buy into keeping our bathrooms open and somewhat nice, the school would not be faced with this pandemic, that is, the boys’ restroom closures.