Shattered sinks, stolen soap dispensers and toilet paper strewn across the walls. This is the reality that DHS bathrooms face far too often.

Earlier in the semester, the bathrooms were relatively clean. But in early November, students threw wadded up wraps of toilet paper against the walls in attempts to make them stick, while also leaving massive amounts of hand soap all over the floor, leading to hours of work to clean up. 

“I am very disappointed that we have students who are making these messes in the restroom,” principal Gretchen Pontious said. 

However, Pontious had a plan.

“We are working to replace all of the soap dispensers and then putting them in a different location to where we can see them from outside the restrooms,” she said. “And if the staff hears any loud noises coming from the bathroom, then they can report it and we will investigate.” 

In one of the most extreme cases, an entire sink was broken off the wall by a pair of students who were in the process of damaging the bathroom. 

“(We felt) just sheer confusion. How did this happen? Why did this happen? How did we not hear something?” Pontious said. “I think as soon as we know that, we want to work with our custodial team right away. Figure out when things like these happen so we can pinpoint who it was, and that is usually the first thing we try to figure out.” 

The reason we are noticing the bathrooms being vandalized is because it’s gotten so bad that they have to be shut down entirely. 

“It’s ridiculous,” Wade Wilding, sophomore said. “Why would you go to the time and effort to just pull an entire sink off a wall? It’s just happening,” 

As more bathrooms were closed off, bearing the “DO NOT ENTER” signs, the question must be asked: Why? 

“I do think that social media has contributed this year to the vandalism,” said Mindy Bacon, the head custodian.“I haven’t heard or seen anything on social media personally, but I usually hear about it from other students.”