By Laney Figueroa, staff writer
Due to graffiti and vandalism, 2 of the Van ness side girls bathrooms, on the 3rd and 4th floor, have been closed for the last 3 weeks. Principal Mr. Avila plans to reopen the girls bathrooms as soon as they are done repainting them, but will continue to close bathrooms if they are vandalized.
Vandalism has been a constant problem in the bathrooms at Galileo throughout the school year. Mr. Avila says that the first floor boys bathroom has been closed for almost the whole year because of kids smoking, graffitiing and vandalizing the restroom. But he was also surprised to have to close two of the girls’ bathrooms because they had never had problems in them until recently. He also feels frustrated about this situation because he understands that the restrooms give a sense of privacy for many students.
“I think it’s important to talk about safety in the bathrooms because of the incident where a man came on campus into a girls bathroom and attempted to hurt a student. I want to hear students’ opinions on how to keep bathrooms a safe and enjoyable place to be,” says Mr. Avila.
Additionally, he also wishes that students had more pride in what our school looks like. When Mr. Avila was first appointed principal at Galileo last July; he was shocked by the conditions of the bathrooms when he walked in. And even though the bathrooms have gotten better, a lot of them still need to be fixed, as they have broken paper towel dispensers, sinks, and pipes.
In regards to the graffiti, Mr. Avila says that there is also a lot of good artwork in the bathrooms, and he is open to new ideas for students to express themselves through art in a more productive way. He says that they could have beautiful art murals on bathroom stalls or dedicate a place somewhere in school for student art, where they could draw what they want. But he emphasized that there is no place for inappropriate drawings or writing anywhere at the school.
Although closing the bathrooms has been necessary to try and keep the bathrooms from any more vandalism, it has also posed a huge inconvenience to students. Since they’ve been closed many students have complained about how much of an inconvenience it is. Sophomore, Abbey D. said, “it’s annoying to have to walk to the other side of the school just to use the bathroom, and bathrooms on the other side tend to be dirtier.”
