Recently, Osbourn’s administration felt the need to incorporate bathroom monitors this school year. Teachers and security started monitoring all of the bathrooms about a week or two into school. The policy requires each teacher to monitor the bathroom 5 times throughout the school year. They sit outside of the bathrooms, check for proper passes, and allow the students to go in 2 at a time. This is to ensure OHS students are safe at all times.

There were a lot of issues before the school started this new rule. A large number of students would congregate in the bathrooms and it would get out of hand. The administration hopes that this new policy will prevent these situations.  “Monitoring the bathrooms affects the school because it is an easier way to control fights or potentially prevent students from doing inappropriate things in the bathroom. It will definitely have some type of impact, whether it is huge or small,” said  Mr. Batres (security).

Some teachers put time limits for going to the bathroom because they feel like students are taking too long or aren’t actually using the bathroom and are just taking a break and using phones. Other students have to wait in line until students leave the bathroom area. ” I feel like there shouldn’t be a time limit while using the bathroom because if a student has an emergency that may take longer than the time limit, they can’t help that,” said Genesis Revolorio, a freshman.

On a positive note, sometimes students might be having health issues and need medical help, so the monitors would be there to help them in whatever way possible. Teachers are present throughout the whole day, so a student would never be unsupervised for safety reasons. “If students need medical attention and need help right away, teachers can be right there to assist us and that makes me feel more safe and secure in the school bathrooms because I have asthma, and if I have an asthma attack, the teachers monitoring the bathroom could help me right away and bring a nurse,”  said freshman Angela Ogbeide.

Teachers sit and watch students carefully as they go in and out of the bathrooms because only two students are allowed in the bathroom at once. Some students may walk in and ignore the monitors, while other students are very respectful. When the students don’t listen and just walk in, some teachers don’t worry about it and some teachers get the student out and make them wait until it is their turn. Most of the time students are respectful enough to follow the school rules. “I  think it can be stressful because teachers have to make sure students don’t go in when they are not supposed to,” said Mr. Jenkins.

The OHS community is just now getting used to this new policy, and some may not know how to react to it.  “Maybe It will change things because students know they are being monitored and don’t do anything they’re not supposed to because the teachers can walk in at any time,” explained Mr. O’Rourke. The teachers only go into the bathrooms if students are taking an excessively long time and there is a line, but students don’t like that they do that because they feel like it’s disrupting their privacy while using the bathroom.  “I feel weird going into the bathroom knowing there are teachers watching us go in and out, and they sometimes randomly go in there yelling at us to get out of the bathroom, and it interrupts my privacy,” said freshman Valerie Dominguez.

Students feel like there could be some changes to the new policy, but most feel that the new rules could actually change things in a good way. Everyone has their own opinion on it but hopefully, this will have a big impact. “I don’t think this will change some students’ behavior because students feel pressured to use the bathroom as quickly as possible, and it makes them annoyed. It also feels like we are being watched and that kind of freaks me out, because teachers know who goes in and goes out and some teachers just yell at us. But at the same time I think it might change things for the positive because fewer students are fighting because they know there are teachers right outside of the bathroom, so it will prevent more arguments and dangerous situations overall,” said Genesis Sosa, a freshman.

Since there were so many students in the restrooms before teachers started to monitor the bathrooms, the noise would interrupt classrooms and learning because students were so loud. Teachers would go out of class and miss class time just to tell students to get out of the bathroom. Those teachers particularly favor this new policy. “My room is right next to the bathrooms, and I teach the broadcast journalism class. Last year, we often had to re-tape segments due to the ridiculous amount of noise coming from the bathrooms. I love this new system. When the teachers are present, the system works,” said Ms. Lisa Miller.