School bathrooms need to be monitored in the high school setting.
In high school, bathrooms can be a source of many problems. Smoking, inappropriate cell phone use and graffiti are among the common misbehavior that takes place in the bathrooms. Monitoring the facilities and having set rules in place for their use are effective means to make the bathroom a safe and comfortable place for all students to use.
Locked Bathrooms
Students cannot go into the bathroom unless they are monitored by a teacher or staff member. If the doors are left unlocked and students can use them freely, there is no effective way to prevent misuse of the facilities or to identify someone who has committed the infraction. Therefore, bathrooms should be locked in between class periods, and opened when a staff member is available to monitor its use. Select teachers should be assigned "bathroom duty." These teachers need to report within the first 5 minutes of their assigned period to open restrooms and lock them at the end of the period. A master key should be made and given to all duty period teachers as well as the entire staff.
Sign-In Sheet
All students should be required to sign-in to use the restrooms. To gain access, all students should produce their student identification cards. With this step, teachers can see if the students are who they actually claim to be. Teachers, not students, should record the names and times students use the facility. Students who are coming from lunch are simply given paddles by the lunch monitors. Teachers just ask for their names, and if there is an issue, they consult the lunch monitor if necessary. Since there are multiple bathrooms for students to use, the sign-in process does not result in much of a wait. These logs should be handed into the office at the end of the period. This information is useful to monitor students who are leaving class too often and to provide a list of names if a problem is discovered.
Periodic Checks
Each teacher or staff member assigned to bathroom duty should check the bathrooms at the beginning, middle, and end of each period. The staff member should physically walk through the restroom and check for any graffiti, smoke or damage that might have been done. Bomb threats are sometimes written on a bathroom wall and discovery is critical to handle the situation. If a problem is found, it should be reported to the administration immediately. The sign-in sheets can then be used to narrow down a list of possible offenders.
Cameras
Obviously a camera can never be placed within a bathroom; however, a camera can be used to see who enters the restroom. Cameras also record the date and time and are normally saved by the school for an extended period of time. If there is a serious infraction such as a bomb threat, the camera can be used as an additional tool to identify possible suspects. The footage can be used to cross reference against the sign-in sheet and the time that the threat or damage was found.
Tags: staff member, students should, assigned bathroom, , bathroom duty