HANOVER, MASS. (WHDH) - A school in Hanover is blocking its bathrooms with gates that can only be opened by staff in an effort to crack down on rulebreakers.
Parents recently received a letter from Hanover High School officials explaining the need for the gates that were installed in the run-up to the school year. The reasoning: student safety and security.
“These gates are meant to be discreet when not in use, and they afford our administration and staff the ability to better monitor restrooms and prevent the behaviors that not only violate school rules (vandalism, vaping, loitering, etc.), but that also make many students feel uncomfortable when using the restrooms,” a statement from the school read.
Recent graduates told 7NEWS that restrooms at the school have been a site for bad behavior in the past, and are the latest in a series of measures officials have taken to address trouble in the stalls.
“You’d walk in and the whole bathroom (would) be jacked up,” “said Kyle Mceachern. “Just trash everywhere and like, writing things on the wall – it was gross.”
“There was one point where we had to use hall passes every time we wanted to leave the classroom and they would monitor through the cameras,” Jack Bromberg told 7NEWS.
Because the school’s student bathrooms do not have entrance and exit doors that can be locked, the town’s Department of Public Works was tasked with installing the barricades, which will be locked and unlocked on a schedule.
Still, some feel the latest measure may be overkill.
“That might be a way to try and solve it, although at the same time, it’s kinda creating more of a prison atmosphere, I’d say, having gates up in a school like that.” said Damien Galotti, another recent graduate. “Having gates up in a school like that.”
“I get it, but I think it’s a little childish to put gates up for someone to use the bathroom,” Mceachern said. “Especially, like, in high school, they always say ‘you’re gonna get treated like an adult’ when I can’t even walk to the bathroom and use the bathroom in my own time.”
One school official told 7NEWS the new system might not be perfect and that changes may be needed as the school year starts on Tuesday, Sept. 6.
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