In an article posted in May of last school year, the Renton High School restrooms were covered, specifically for their poor conditions. To summarize, the article talks about the unaligned locks on the stall doors, meaning you can not lock the doors of the stalls, as well as a heavy amount of vandalism and mistreatment of the restrooms. Now, 5 months later, has there been a noticeable difference in condition?
Jim Pullis, one of the custodians here at Renton High, was interviewed about the problems concerning the restrooms. He mentions that there are work orders to get these issues fixed, and that they are doing as much as they can. “We have 2 plumbers and 2 carpenters, usually the carpenters do all the work with the stalls…They have quite a big list, so they’re working through them,” says Mr. Pullis after being asked about current efforts to improve the stalls. Along with the issue of limited staff, there is also an issue with funding, he says, especially with the plans of the new school being built soon. He clarifies, “They [the district] don’t want to put top quality stuff in if they’re only going to have it for a few years.” Although, after the remodeling of the school, Mr. Pullis believes that the quality of the stalls will be much nicer, due to them being new. The condition of the current restrooms is difficult to upkeep as a result of growing age and constant use.
At the time of interviewing Mr. Pullis, the women’s restroom on the first floor was closed due to flooding. After asking him about the situation, and why it was closed for repair, he answered that the restroom was beginning to flood because of leaks in the toilets. He describes that the plumbing isn’t very good, “The plumbing is in the walls not the floor, so it doesn’t go down, it goes vertically, so the toilets aren’t made too well, and they fixed it over the summer but already with the use…” there is wear and tear. He states that with the way the school is built, some issues are more common than others.
Aside from carpentry and plumbing factors, another big issue includes the students’ behavior towards the restrooms. As seen in the article made in May, there are pictures depicting toilet paper covering the floor and graffiti on the walls.
Comparing last year to this year, Mr. Pullis says, “Actually I’ve seen an increase of respect towards the restroom, it’s been a lot better,” because of this increase, more restrooms are remaining open. The previous school year, many restrooms were closed mainly due to loitering and misuse, making it difficult for people to find a restroom near them and even making them want to wait until they get home to use the restroom. But this year, students are using the restrooms responsibly and aren’t vandalizing them, making it easier to take care of them, leaving more restrooms for everyone to use.
Although this year is better than before, it’s important that students continue to use the restrooms with respect and care. Some advice from Mr. Pullis to the students is to consider the people coming in after you, and how they must feel when they try to use the restroom. If Renton High School students proceed to throw their garbage in the trash can, pick up after themselves, and keep the restrooms clean, it will make it a lot easier for the custodian, Mr. Pullis, to keep them open for us. We can do this RedHawkS! Let’s work together to keep these restrooms neat and clean up after ourselves, so that we can continue to have access to the restrooms when we need them!
Sources:
Other article mentioned in the story-
https://rhshawkeye.com/10476/rhs-life/rhs-restroom-crisis/
Interview with Jim Pullis (RHS custodian).
Updated picture taken by Sophia Hun.
