It’s no surprise that the bathrooms are a place for students to hang out, vape, eat food, go on their phone and skip class during instructional time. This pattern of students skipping and congregating in the bathrooms isn’t new, and nothing has been done to prevent it in the past. It came as a shock to many students on February 10 when certain bathrooms were no longer open for student use. Administrators were concerned about the number of students congregating in bathrooms during instructional time and wanted to adjust their approach on students skipping class. 

“We want students that have legitimate reasons to leave the classroom to be able to access restrooms and other things without being caught up with those who are avoiding class,” associate principal Matthew Mough said. 

Soon after the initial closings of the bathrooms, an email went out to the Hayfield Community, and a video was played during SOAR 4 for all students. 

“Over the past few weeks we have been evaluating patterns in… [the] appropriate use of restrooms. In examining these items, we have determined that we need to make some adjustments to emphasize the importance of all students being in their assigned location and our restrooms being used appropriately,” the recent email from principal Martin Grimm said.  

 Many new measures are being placed to discern between students who are using the bathroom to skip, and those who are using it for its proper purpose. This includes shutting down particular bathrooms, adding doors back, and the future use of an electronic or ‘E-pass.’ The bathrooms at the top of staircase 3 are closed at all times, and the bathrooms typically used during lunch are now closed at all times other than 5th and 6th period. 

“It was inconvenient at the end of 3rd period to walk to the bathroom and it was closed, since my class is right there,” senior Reagan Carter said. 

Administration had no clear answer for when things would go back to normal. 

“Ultimately it’s gonna be up to students whether this is a permanent thing or not. We need students to partner with us to make good decisions, which the majority of our students already do every day,” Mough said.