Photo Courtesy of Reporter Olivia Cusick
San Luis Obispo High School Students may have noticed the bathrooms locked down all over campus. So far, it’s been clear that it’s not a one time problem, with bathrooms continuing to be closed for months.
The issue started at the beginning of the year with the infamous “devious lick” trend from Tiktok. Students took hand-sanitisers, soap dispensers, and damaged school supplies as well as bathrooms.
“We’ve had a variety of vandalism in our bathrooms this year. We had quite an influx of vandalism at the start of the year with devious licks. I would say recently, the majority of vandalism has been students leaving trash in the toilets and students writing and drawing on the walls”, said assistant-principal Nathan Meinert.
The trend began to fall flat as Tiktok banned content, schools cracked down on punishments, and cameras were installed all over the school. “Normal” vandalism continued, with students drawing on bathroom doors and groups of students loitering.
SLOHS students have also been caught flushing the free lunches students are offered down the toilets. Not only does it waste food that could be given to students who may not have access to much at home, but it causes a completely unnecessary problem for the custodial staff to clean up. There is no justification for these actions, since trash cans are accessible throughout the school and the bathrooms. These actions are purely for destruction purposes.
Luckily, some of the bathrooms have closed for good reasons.. Juniors and seniors may remember the 100’s bathrooms, and the age of those buildings was showing. The bathrooms in the five five-hundred building are currently the oldest bathrooms on campus, and administrators are in the process of having contractors design a new restroom. “The current plan is work on the bathrooms during summer, and ideally should be ready by next fall”, explains Meinert.
To prevent vandalism and keep a more diligent eye on students, bathrooms in the big gym are closed during the school day. So far, this strategy has successfully stopped any vandalism.
Bathrooms in the four-hundred wing were closed for a few weeks due to a plumbing issue. By preventing students from using the area for a few weeks, the problem was much easier to resolve.
Students need to be more mindful of their fellow classmates and the staff who work so hard to keep this school presentable. Vandalism of any kind is simply unacceptable, and patience is required while staff works to better the school.
