Think of all of the gross germs we come into contact with daily. What’s the easy fix to the fact that we are in such close proximity with a group of germy teenagers? Washing our hands, but what if there is no soap?
Recently, many of our student bathrooms have had Missing-In-Action soap dispensers. There is no point in just rinsing our hands with water; that does not get rid of the germs. Students are left with the responsibility of providing their own hand-washing materials.
“Students should bring hand sanitizer for the purpose of our school not being prepared,” said junior Jenny Arias. “[Not having soap dispensers] affects the hygiene of everyone in the school.”
When we think of who is in charge of school cleanliness the custodial staff are the first to come to mind, but their job is not as easy as you might think. The custodians do not order bathroom supplies directly. A representative from a supply company comes every two weeks and surveys our school to decide the amount of supplies we need.
If for some reason supplies are used up faster than anticipated in the two week span before new supplies arrive, the custodial staff is at a loss. They are inconvenienced by someone else’s decisions. They must make calls and pull strings until we get more supplies.
Our students can help the situation by cleaning up after themselves and respecting the school property. Until the renovation, we have to do what we can to keep the school a safe place. If students stop wasting bathroom supplies we won’t run out.
Some work orders sent into the county by the custodial staff over the summer have yet to be tended to in spite of their repeated calls and efforts. Becky Mullins has been on the custodial staff at WS for 25 years and has seen it all.
“WS gets treated unfairly compared to other schools as far as amount of supplies and equipment provided.” said Mullins.
In serious cases such as standing water or broken window glass the matter is brought to the attention of higher authorities such as the Principal Paul Wardinski or the Student Activities Director Andy Muir in hopes of a speedy repair.
“The students’ safety is our first concern,” said Mullins.
