In February 2019, the high-school newspaper of a Wisconsin school had the following headline: "Vandals Overrun the Bathrooms." The story details how vandalism in the bathrooms — more specifically, the boys’ bathrooms — is a growing concern. According to the article, toilets are filled to the brim with paper products, soap dispensers are broken and urinal flush valves are tampered with. Further, garbage cans are flipped upside down, some doors are off their hinges and garbage is "flooding the floors."

One boys’ bathroom is now closed indefinitely, according to the paper, with no estimate as to when it will be reopened. The school has notified students and parents that they only have "so much money" to spend on repairs and they don't want to ask teachers and staff to give up their free time to supervise bathrooms. As to who the culprits are, the article does not provide names or answers. What it does say is that "the school knows these events are on the rise during lunch and after school."

This same situation is occurring in schools throughout the country in varying degrees. It’s degrading to teachers, students and their parents. It makes schools unsafe, negatively impacts morale and, unfortunately, vandalism tends to breed more vandalism, making this an ongoing problem.

To read more on this article by Klaus Reichardt, posted on Spaces4Learning.com, click here.