The bathrooms at Berlin High School are not always used for their intended purpose. On Dec. 2, 16, and 19 the boys bathrooms were shut down due to vandalism. This is not the first time the school has had issues like this. The district’s Director of Operations Josh Youngbauer is one of the many school employees impacted by the overall bathroom behavior. 

“The issues tend to come in stretches, they are higher at the start of the year and usually calm down as the year progresses. On average they happen once a week. The main issues are vandalization in the form of knocking off the soap and paper towel dispensers and the dividers in between the urinals,” Youngbauer said.

The school police officer, Micheal Bennett, is also affected by the issues. Bennett has given out multiple citations not only this year but in previous years also.

“These citations have been for vandalism, loitering, possession of vapes, or other tobacco devices,” Bennett said. 

However, these do not appear to be solving the problem as the issues keep occurring throughout each school year. Students are experiencing the effects of these bathroom issues first hand. Senior Adam Luttropp is one of many students who is upset about the frequent closures. 

“I am annoyed with the bathroom closures because I often have to go back to my classroom to tell my teacher about it so I don’t go over my Smartpass time. Then I have to go back upstairs to use the bathroom,” Luttropp said.  

Vandalization is not a new issue that has appeared in Berlin High School. Youngbauer has been seeing vandalization from back when he was in high school. 

“People have been vandalizing the bathroom since I was in high school. There has always been writing on the stalls; however, the vandalization of the soap and towel dispensers and urinal dividers are a more recent issue,” Youngbauer said 

The most recent closure of the bathrooms was on Dec. 19. The reasoning behind this closure was not disclosed by administration. Assistant Principal Ben Schimdt expanded on the reasoning for bathroom closures in general. 

“We always want to make sure that the bathrooms are clean and used appropriately within our school. We know it’s an inconvenience for the students if the bathrooms are closed but we want to ensure that they are used for the intended purpose,” Schmidt said.

The bathrooms were reopened on Dec.19 after only a few hours of closure.