During the 24th of October, three bathrooms were locked at Lake Middle High School. There were many rumors about the cause. But what is true? What happened behind the locked doors of the girls’ bathrooms? During an interview with Mr. Harold, the answers were given.

Going back several years, most schools would have occasional problems with students
smoking cigarettes or using marijuana in the bathrooms, but now the current trend is for
teenagers to choose to use a vape. For the teachers and custodians of a school it is hard to catch those who do it, because the vapes are not as strong smelling or noticeable and can be easier to hide. 

Mr. Harold, Lake’s Principal, said that bathrooms should not be locked. The only time they lock them is if there are repairs. If someone vapes in them or does other morally incorrect things, “[the administration] would rather not punish the rest of the student body”. He also thinks that the administration and staff needs to work with students to fix the problem when something happens instead of locking the bathrooms. However, he also mentioned that “the restrooms are a difficult spot to supervise and that [they] have to rely on other students [to to speak up]”. 

He talked about students destroying soap dispensers and other problems that occur in the bathrooms. For him, those actions are a sign of immaturity and a lack of self control and only result in losing money and time which could have been used for more important matters. 

Mr. Harold, furthermore, said that he gets frustrated when he finds out that restrooms are locked. He elaborated that he found a locked restroom one day and immediately sent a reminder to all involved that the school will not be locking restrooms during school hours. 

The principal’s appeal to the student body is that they behave like Lake students. He wants them to be as offended by someone from Lake destroying a bathroom or doing something morally wrong as if they would be if it were someone from another school. “As Lake students, we should take pride in our facilities” and respect them and the people who work for the school.