Students and staff alike at East are familiar with “the vaping issue”. During passing periods, at lunch, and even during class time, students use the bathrooms as a smoking area. Almost weekly, a fire alarm is set off at East and oftentimes these can be attributed to students vaping in the bathrooms. The extent to which vaping has become an issue in our school and nationwide is a little ridiculous. According to the Center for Disease Control, 5.9% of teens use e-cigarettes across the U.S. This is a large amount of the population, but realistically in our school it is a select group of students occupying the bathroom for this unhealthy practice. So should all students be punished for the acts of a few?
Anonymous Junior Girls Interviews: Have you had any significant experiences or issues surrounding any bathroom or hallway policies? “Deans have told me I couldn’t go into the bathroom 1 minute after passing period ended and I was literally bleeding through my pants.” -Female, Junior 1 “A dean came into the bathroom and told people vaping to leave, I was the only one in the bathroom and the dean waited a whole 7 minutes while I was in the stall taking care of a feminine hygiene problem, it was so awkward and uncomfortable.” -Female, Junior 2 “Some classes only have one hall pass and people take forever so I never get to go. Also, the teachers say that we should go during passing period but there is never enough time.” -Female, Junior 3 “Expected to be skipping (gets yell at for no reason) I could have an off or just have to pee” -Female, Junior 4 |
Vaping in the bathrooms is an inconvenience for staff as well as other students. Unfortunately, this has brought deans (and even the principal herself) into the bathrooms to monitor them. Sitting inside and outside the bathroom, deans deny students without a pass, opening the door fully to ensure their awareness of vaping or other smoking in the bathroom. Recently this hardcore monitoring has curtailed, but vaping is still an issue and administration continues to keep a close eye on students.
Students feel uncomfortable using the bathroom when anyone can see in and with a dean sitting right in the doorway. This decision brings forth questions about privacy and what is appropriate. Students struggle with the ever-changing rules, regulations, and policies at East. In the first semester of the 2024-2025 school year, bathrooms and hallways have been the focal point of admin. Especially in these past few years, these rapid changes have made a significant impact. Last year, the most pressing issue was the new concept of Saturday School and tardies. This year, many new rules have been implemented around plagiarism, and with AI taking a hold on education, there are new rules about chat gpt and rules around the late policies. Along with these, in the first semester of the 2024-2025 school year, bathrooms and hallways have been the focal point of admin. New rules exist, but many of them are left unwritten.
The girls’ bathroom is a reflection of the administration's views on students. There is this idea that students can't be trusted and need to be kept on close watch. The hallways are vigorously monitored and the environment has become tense. Walking in the hallways students feel the frantic checks for passes, ids, and other validations by deans who say it is their job. A lot of the time the demeanor and actions of deans and other staff is almost unnecessary. Students do need guidance and discipline, but doing this in a disrespectful manner breaks trust and relationship.
Nadine Barrientos has been a dean at East for the past two years. She explains, “We try to put our presence in there not to impede on anyone using the bathroom, but to impede on those pulling out their vapes. We’ve caught, I think, 15 people today vaping, that is so significant. There is blatant disregard for any authority by many of these kids because like today, one student got caught and blew smoke into Ms. Walker's face.” This incredible disrespect may contribute to the hostility some deans have displayed towards students, and possibly be a cause for the supervision of the bathrooms. Although, it was made clear in speaking with Ms. Nadine that few solutions, other than the invasion of privacy, have been provided to solve the vaping issue.
The question emerges, how can we (students and administration alike) foster a safe and respectful environment while maintaining the privacy of students? The best way to go about this is by building a stronger community overall. East has such a large population with diverse subsets of people and it can be complicated to forge a strong community as a unit. Students and staff alike must put compassion and respect over the unusual power dynamic at hand. Through the compliance of all parties any issue can be combated and the student-administration relationship can overcome anything.
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