Grade 5 students at one Ontario school are demanding action to ensure better washroom facilities at their school. See the letter below, which they sent to their Principal.
Dear Principal XXX,
The students of room YYYÂ would like to present a very urgent problem to you. The student washrooms in our school are a disaster. It is absolutely necessary to resolve this issue because the health, safety and dignity of pupils are paramount.
Firstly, the state of the washrooms is not good for the health of students. There is often no soap in the dispensers; therefore the children do not wash the hands. In addition, the toilets are frequently blocked and smell absolutely disgusting.
Secondly, students need to feel safe in their environment in order to be comfortable. If there are no locks on the doors, students will not want to use the washrooms here and feel that school is dangerous. You must install working locks for the good of the school.
Lastly, the dignity of pupils is at risk when the toilets are not clean. The walls in all the washrooms are covered in bad words, mean comments, and excrement. It is below the dignity of students to use washrooms in this condition.
In conclusion, all the student washrooms at our school must be renovated immediately! The health, safety, and dignity of students are in your hands, as our Principal. Please stand up for us. Thank you very much for your time and consideration.
Ideas as to what we can do as students to solve this problem:
– We can have student monitors for the washrooms who let the administration/caretakers know when there is a problem in the washrooms.
– We can put up laminated signs of washroom rules to help remind students on how to behave in the washrooms.
– We can be watchful and make sure other students follow the bathroom rules and let adult know when there are problems.
– We can fundraise money to improve the washrooms with bake sales.
Sincerely,
The grade 5 class in room YYY
The Principal at this school was receptive to working with students to find solutions that could be implemented and was happy to receive this detailed feedback. The next step was for the students to conduct an audit on every washroom in the school and make detailed recommendations based on their findings.
Fix Our Schools is working with this group of students and their teacher to ensure that their message is escalated beyond their school, to the provincial government, which is the body that has power over the funding that could truly influence the state of washrooms in Ontario schools.