How can Rosemont and students improve the bathrooms?

The Bathrooms and restrooms at Rosemont might be quite controversial with some students, the reason being how do they feel whenever they go? We have interviewed some students here at Rosemont Middle School about how they feel about the bathrooms. We have also researched some information about the toilets, and urinals at middle schools and how it is controlled by the school. Now here are some facts and thoughts about the subject.

Some facts about how middle school bathrooms like Rosemont should be is that for males there should be one toilet per fifty students, and one urinal per a hundred students. Then for females there should be at least one toilet per thirty students. There should also be at least 40 lavatories per 40 students including everyone. The reason why this is the case is because of the 2013 and 2016 California Plumbing Code which considers schools like Rosemont a Educational (E) occupancy which means they can determine the amount of toilets, urinals, and lavatories including drinking fountains depending on what the California Plumbing code states within their requirements. Another code that talks about school bathrooms is the California Department of Education (CDE) which recommends that the locations of toilets and drinking fountains at schools should be distributed around the campus making sure the students have access wherever they are at campus. On top of that for California Code, Education Code – EDC § 35292.5 the bathrooms should be regularly cleaned and maintained by the staff including the bathrooms having to be stocked with toilet paper, soap, and paper towels or functional hand dryers.

Now here are some answers and thoughts  from how some students have felt about the R.M.S. bathrooms over the time they have spent here including a few student’s combined knowledge, one eighth grade student stated, “I feel like the stalls are easy to look over and see the other person, I also feel like the amount of stalls are not enough for everyone at lunch.” As you can see a student feels that stalls might be too easy to look over to see others and they feel that there aren’t enough stalls when it is lunchtime considering the amount of students that get lunch from the cafeteria and then afterwards go to the bathroom. The amount of students compared to the amount of stalls and bathrooms that are available at lunch are not enough to sustain. Sometimes the lines for the bathrooms can be a long wait if too many people feel the need to use the bathroom at lunch because of the little amount of bathrooms that are available at certain areas and times.

Before in the past, schools for students who have gone to bathrooms may have been more manageable for both the teachers and students because of the lesser number of students at the elementary school compared to middle schools. A few reasons why some students may not ever use the bathrooms during lunch or class could be as one eighth grade student stated, “There are very minimal stalls and urinals for everybody during lunch, which can cause bunching up and partying.” and another eighth grade student also stated, “I don’t feel safe when I’m in the Rosemont bathrooms because usually when I go to the bathroom, some people come into the bathroom to mess around or to make fun of the people inside the stalls.” The reason why students like these might not like going to the bathroom might be because of the troublesome students that mess around. One last general reason for many students that don’t use the bathroom could also be because the bathroom may usually be filthy and strongly pungent.

Some ways Rosemont and other middle schools can make the bathrooms a better environment for students is to have more privacy, more cleaned sanitized bathrooms, more stalls/toilets in the lavatories because of the amount of students, and finally the students should treat the bathrooms as good as how they would treat their bathrooms at home and keep the bathroom in good shape for the custodians to clean up. Closing up the reasons why some students may not use the bathrooms is usually up to the students and their personal judgment since using the bathroom will not always be the best experience for everyone but anyone who wants to keep the bathrooms clean and ready for others around them have to make sure that they won’t ruin the bathrooms for others and treat it the best they possibly can.