Complaints from girls on campus have been increasing this last month as difficulty finding open bathrooms during the day continues. The most common reason given for the closures is increased vandalism on campus.

“Students have been complaining about the bathrooms being locked. It’s sad for them because they need to use the restroom but have to go searching all over campus to find one that’s open,” said AV English Teacher Rebecca Teczon.

On Jan. 16 during ACCESS, several girls found both of the Q-building, girl’s locker room, and the J-building bathrooms to be locked—none of which were reported in a spreadsheet for tracking bathroom availability.

“The bathrooms are open every day. So if they get closed during the course of a day, either it’s being done without [custodians] notifying me or it’s an issue with vandalism,” said Alphonso Powell, Coordinator of Operations for Amador.

Vandalism has become an increasing problem in the girl’s restrooms at Amador. With wet paint on the walls, clogged toilets, smeared lipstick on mirrors, and alcohol bottles, janitors struggle to keep up with students.

“The only time we close the bathroom is if it’s vandalized and we don’t have enough staff to take care of the vandalism until later. Today, we closed the H-bathroom because it was vandalized during third period, right before lunch. We only have one guy on today,” said Powell.

Not only is the bathroom abuse affecting janitors, but girls are also struggling to find a restroom to use. With multiple bathrooms being closed, the lines grow longer during passing periods.

“I tried to go to the bathroom after fifth period the other day and couldn’t because there was a long line leading out of it. It’s annoying because it was the only bathroom open and my sixth period was across campus so I couldn’t wait either,” said Allya Mukherjee (‘25).

With multiple students unable to go during the designated time at passing period, many miss out on class time when they have to leave class and search for an open bathroom. 

“The bathroom is packed during passing periods and there just isn’t enough time to use the bathrooms before class starts,” said Anita Gautam (‘24). 

The Amador Valley campus sits on over 39 acres which creates long distances for students walking across campus. The minutes spent out of class are increasing lately as girls have found themselves having to spend more and more time searching for an unlocked bathroom.

“It’s unfortunate that things are happening like vandalism and other inappropriate behaviors in the bathrooms to the point where the school feels like they have to lock them but we need to come up with a solution where there are safe and accessible bathrooms for students to use,” said Teczon.