During these tough times, it can be hard to manage the amount of people that go in and out of the bathrooms here at Hawthorne High School.

With Covid in our lives, overcrowding in the bathrooms can end up being  a serious problem. That’s where the bathroom patrols come in. Each period, a teacher is assigned an area and sit across from the bathrooms in the school, making sure there are only two students using the restroom at a time.

Some people’s opinions on the bathroom patrols vary from disliking it or thinking it was a good idea. The Clarion spoke to HHS English teacher Mrs. Hackett, who has had this duty.

The Clarion: How do you feel about the bathroom patrols? 

Mrs. Hackett:  I can only speak to what is happening on the second floor. I feel it’s been a good idea to set monitors to help keep the flow of bathroom traffic to a minimum. Whenever we don’t have monitors there have been way too many students in the bathrooms at one time. This creates a health hazard.

The Clarion : Do you think the bathroom patrols are effective? 

Mrs. Hackett:   I think it has been effective  to help minimize trouble in the bathrooms and too many students being in the bathroom one at a time. 

The Clarion: Have you seen improvement after starting the bathroom patrols?

Mrs. Hackett : On any given day while I’m patrolling, I will see on average about 20 students in each bathroom over a course of each period. Monitoring how many people go in at a time  eliminated students going into the bathroom only to go to hang with their friends. When they know people are waiting to use the bathroom they try not to take too long. But when they know I’m sitting there waiting to check people  in and out, it keeps students accountable for their use of the bathroom.