BY KEDEST MEKONEN
I am a third generation student in my family that goes to Tucker High School and I’ve been a student here since August of 2019 and I would have never thought that I’d be writing about an issue like this, especially about a school that I love so much.
Tucker High School is a public school located in Tucker, Georgia, a city in DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. It is operated by the DeKalb County School District. Its student body consists of over 1,500 students from many different cultures and backgrounds. Every student no matter what country, what state, or even city all deserve a private and sanitary restroom.
“Our school’s restrooms lack useful supplies and are very unsanitary,” said Tucker High School student Triniti Garnett.
The bathroom entrances have no doors and invade not only the students’ privacy but our teachers’ privacy. The stalls do not even close all the way and at times other students including myself would have to hold the door for one another. Our stalls show a complete view of the person inside on both sides making us feel uncomfortable and insecure.
Most students choose to not use the restroom at school and those could lead to many health issues such as urinary tract infections and possibly even death. According to Geisinger Health, delaying using the restroom can increase the risk of kidney disease or, in rare cases, the bladder bursting.
“I feel extremely uncomfortable going to the bathroom everyday but I don’t want to hurt myself physically by not going,” said Tucker High School student Dominic Jarrett.
There are trash bags over the urinals in the boys restrooms and water leaking out of the toilets whenever they are flushed in the girls restrooms. Public schools receive money to be able to fix things like this.
Our school has an outstanding basketball team where every player has new clothing and even new equipment and our football team has a recently rebuilt field. My question is, “What is my school using the other money for?”
I understand that sports may be important but sports are not more important than the mental and physical health issues of students and faculty members.
Many students don’t have training on how to behave outside their home and come to a place where no one will teach them. I believe that high school students, especially freshmen who are supposed to take health class to pass the ninth grade should be taught the importance of proper hygiene for all genders instead of mainly being taught about drunk driving and drug use.
I do believe those issues are important to talk about but what students need to know first when they come into the building is having proper hygiene. One thing that I know is I will make a change at my school and I will make sure the students and even faculty members feel safe especially in a place where they are most vulnerable.