The EHHS bathroom policy has changed for the fall 2025 semester multiple times since we started school. The policy for the fall 2025 year is students don’t have to sign in at the bathroom. Students have 15 minutes before their pass turns yellow which means a warning for being out for a while. Repeated issues as in going over 15 minutes on your pass, Students vandalising the bathroom. Such as, urinating on the floors, drawing on walls, and knocking off urinals, soap dispensers, and toilet paper holders. In previous years they changed this because people were taking too long in the bathroom and waiting in long lines which made you out of class for longer with less freedom. Principal Vincent DeNuzzo said, ‘‘We had conversations over the summer about trying to demonstrate to our students that we trust them and we know that they’ll make good decisions.’’ Overall the girls are using the bathroom usefully and as they should. The boys on the other hand, are taking advantage of it which forces administrators to take some of the freedom that was given to them to take back. Mr. DeNuzzo shared ‘‘In the last couple of weeks we have some really great student compliance with great feedback from both students and staff… but recently we have some misuse of the boys bathrooms.’’
Teachers also have good feelings about the new policy. Science teacher, Mr. Neil Merola said, “It’s pretty good for us as teachers with more time to teach with students then having the freedom to use the bathroom on their own time. This creates them not having to wait in line for a long time by taking away learning time.” More learning time can create students to have the ability to get a better understanding of the topic they are learning.
DeNuzzo also said, ‘‘we want our students to feel like we are treating them as young adults and trusting them. It would be no different from using the bathroom at the mall , airport, a concert, or even a sporting event.’’ The EHHS students feel that there is a lot more freedom this year than in years past. They are happier to be able to use the bathroom more quickly rather than spending more time in lines. Sophomore Isaiah Fincher said, “I love it. It’s freedom.”
However, junior Michael Dattilo, doesn’t like “how you can’t go in Flex [now].” Since the beginning of October, the administration has had to adjust the policy a little bit. Bathrooms are closed during flex completely and boys restrooms are more restricted now. Mr. DeNuzzo shared ‘’ we will continue to look at situations like the boys bathroom and address these by identifying the persons doing (wrong) and hold them accountable.’’ The hope is that the issues we have seen with the boys bathroom will stop with some more restrictions. Students have been vandalizing the boys bathroom based on different TikTok trends.
