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Many students can agree that the bathrooms here at Aurora High School are not always the nicest or cleanest. Dirty bathrooms can cause bacteria and germs to linger, which puts many students at risk for viruses. Cold and flu particles can live on hard bathroom surfaces for many hours. Some students even avoid using the bathroom at school, which can cause other health issues. Not to say that the bathrooms don’t get cleaned, many issues can be because they are very old and students don’t treat them well.
A good majority of the students using the bathrooms can see eye to eye. Junior, Anna Grummitt states, “They aren’t sanitary. I try to avoid going into them throughout the day because they don’t stay clean.“ When going into the bathroom during the school day, the soap dispensers are often empty and the toilets are clogged.
According to “Ohio Laws and Administrative Rules,” the official publication of state laws and regulations, “Every school, regardless of type, shall maintain a clean restroom facility, equipped with a flush toilet, running water, a soap dispenser, and a paper towel dispenser or equipment for hand-drying. The facilities shall be kept clean, sanitary, and functional.” It can be agreed upon that our bathrooms have all of this equipment, but it’s not always functional or sanitary. The toilets may get clogged throughout the day due to students flushing things that don’t go down the toilet. If soap dispensers are running out, maybe they should be checked more frequently throughout the day. If there is no soap available to use in the bathroom, and students don’t have time to go to a different bathroom, that can cause health issues like diseases to be spread around the school.
Image from Google
Image from Google
Another solution would be updating our school bathrooms completely. Aurora High School was built in 1965. The school has been updated since then; however, the bathrooms could be further improved. Making renovations and updating the bathrooms can improve sanitation and reduce maintenance costs moving forward. Doing this could also reduce the spread of germs around the school and create a more positive image of our school. However, a complete renovation of the bathrooms is a huge expense when taking into consideration how many bathrooms we have in the school. “Bankrate,” a company that offers product comparison tools, calculators, and educational content states, “In general, you can expect to spend anywhere from $6,622 to $16,744 on a bathroom remodel, with a national average of $11,365 — about $70 to $250 per square foot.” Remodeling and renovating all of the bathrooms in the school would be a high-cost project that would likely take years to even consider.
All in all, there are many solutions to fix AHS’s bathrooms. Students should not have to worry about running out of soap in the bathrooms or all of the toilets being clogged. Even though a renovation of the bathrooms would be an expensive project, it is something that should be considered for the future.
Written by: Natalie Magdics
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