Topeka High School has noticed students’ behavior in the bathrooms and decided to take matters into their own hands, surprising students with new school policies when they came back from winter break.

For starters, not just anyone can go to the bathroom as they please. You have to show your hall pass to your teacher and fill out a time sheet to keep track of how long you have been gone before taking a lanyard with a key card attached which opens the bathroom door that has been locked and will only open when the card is pressed to the reader of the lock. Detectors have also been installed, setting off alarms at the notice of smoking or fights.

This new process of accessing the restrooms has proven itself to be both tedious and useful for some students.

While it can be nice to know that being the only person to unlock the bathroom door with the keycard allows you a sense of privacy and lack of unnecessary people and behaviors, the population problem hasn’t gone down yet. Even with the special card being used, there are still extensive people present, most of whom have no real intentions to use the bathroom and are there just to stand and look at themselves in the mirror, gossip with friends, or start vaping.

All of these are behaviors that demean the point of using the restroom quickly and show that even with heavier restrictions, there are still cases that show how some students aren’t so attuned to the new rules.

A survey was conducted to ask students for their thoughts on the new policies. The goal was to determine whether they thought the updated rules would cause change at Topeka High or only complicate the situation.

“Pros: There aren’t a lot of people in the bathroom. Cons: A lot of the time, people take a long time in the bathroom, and you can’t go to the bathroom because they take a long time. You have to fill out so many things just to be able to go to the bathroom,” Victoria Reynaga-Dominguez (11th) said.

The consensus was that most students disapproved of the bathroom rules and didn’t feel like they were doing much to change things, considering that the issues with students vaping still happen with no effect on the detectors.

“I understand why we have it, but sometimes the bathrooms are wide open, so it kinda contradicts itself. I don’t mind getting a key or anything, but if we start locking the bathrooms like we did a lot last year, that’s when it gets hard,” Taimane Isaia (11th) said.

While there is a rule that prohibits students from opening the door for others to enter the bathroom themselves without a pass, it is clear that that has not become the case since there has been no change in the number of people crowding the bathrooms and making it hard for those who need to go to use the bathroom.

Data research showed that the majority of students stated that they didn’t feel like the rules were doing much to improve conditions, and a few agreed that the policies did benefit the school. A few students provided their opinions on the new policies.

“Not much of an improvement overall, but it does keep students engaged in class more,” Robert Dingle (12th) said.

With much debate and opinions from the student body, Mr. Dick helped to clear things up by adding his input on the situation and explaining why things have changed.

“What we’ve noticed is that several students spend more time in the restrooms and not in classrooms. We had to come up with a different solution to encourage students to stay in class,” Dick said.

Dick noted that the school has had reason to shut down the use of the restrooms because of plumbing issues and vandalism but that the more recent things such as mingling and hiding in the bathrooms to avoid having to go to class have been a new thing for him to witness as a principal.

Both the admin and students are concerned about the lack of surveillance in the restrooms. For students, it would be a good idea to use them so that some of the behaviors such as vaping and vandalism would be caught on camera, and staff could catch an easier eye on how many students are in the restroom, maintaining the crowd control. For administrators, balancing security with decency can be a hard line, but the door keys seemed to be the best option.

For a thorough explanation of how the new policy came into play, Dick described how it started with an excessive amount of crowding in the hallways. He wanted to find a way to limit the traffic and the number of students in the hallways.

“How do you limit access? Maybe cards would limit the traffic,” Dick said.

After testing the idea on the first floor, the school decided to expand it to classes, and it evolved into a system where students would go to class, sign a pass, and use the bathrooms with a keycard.

Though the school may be divided now as to where to stand with the new restroom regulations, time may only tell if it creates an impact, but hopefully, the new changes are for the best and ensure everyone can use the restroom in a respectful manner.