Potty problems lead to patrols

After a lot of trouble in the bathrooms, teachers have been assigned to patrol them and vape detectors are on their way. 

Co-Principal Mr. Andrew Rantz said bathroom vandalism has been a problem since at least 2015, when he started working at Milton Area High School. He added that it is not just a problem in Milton, but at other area schools too. 

 According to Mr. Rantz, the vandalism this year began “… sometime in November.” He added that the bathroom with the most vandalism has been the boys bathroom in the CTE/ Science hallway. 

Mr. Rantz said the same resources continue to be vandalized, including mirrors and soap dispensers. Other damages included broken sinks and scribbled racial slurs on the stalls and doors. 

For weeks, the only boys bathroom left open was the bathroom by the cafeteria. That bathroom is easy to access if others are closed, added Mr. Rantz. 

“The whole reason (for the closure is) if something does happen, we have a window of time when it happened, and it’s very easy to look at the cameras because there’s only one open,” he said. 

Co-Principal Mr. Michael Bergey made a schedule for teachers to check the bathrooms throughout the day during their planning blocks. This could help catch who is vandalizing the bathrooms or narrow down the period of time when an incident happened, Mr. Rantz added. 

Mr. Bergey said that teachers check the bathrooms every 20 minutes. He added that this could always change because of teachers having meetings or needing to cover other classes. 

According to Mr. Rantz, the students who vandalized the bathroom this year have not yet been caught. Mr. Rantz said the students need to respect the school, particularly because of the struggle to maintain custodians throughout the building. 

“It’s just complete and total disrespect for (Mr.) Charlie (Mingle), our custodian; he does everything, and he should not have to clean up unnecessary things,” added Mr. Rantz. 

According to Mr. Bergey, upperclassman always stood up for what was wrong and the lower classman always had a healthy fear of them. In this generation, those lower classmen do not have that “healthy fear,” he added. 

“I would absolutely love it if you guys, as upperclassman, said, ‘no, you know what I’m not ok with this, I’m not ok with this happening, and I’m not going to keep my mouth shut when somebody does something stupid,’” said Mr. Bergey.  

The cost of damages always varies depending on what was damaged. Mr. Rantz said cost factors include the time needed to clean it up or fix it, the hourly rate to have it replaced and the resource itself. 

“If we’re able, they will get a bill for anything they did. If we’re able we will have the school resource officers charge them with vandalism the max amount,” added Mr. Rantz. 

Vaping has also been an issue in high school bathrooms, according to Mr. Rantz. 

 “The biggest thing is we’re putting vape detectors in every bathroom,” he said. 

According to Mr.Rantz, it is undetermined exactly when the vape detectors are going to be put into the bathrooms. He added that he and Mr. Bergey heard of the detectors a couple years ago, but the companies did not respond to their requests for information. 

Verkada, a California based company, will be providing the school with vape detectors for a 60-day free trial. He said that the District Safety and Security Coordinator Ms. Catherine Girton is collecting funds for the detectors in all bathrooms for the 2023-24 school year.  

“I polled a bunch of other high school principals in the area (and) found out that a bunch of them were already using them,” added Mr. Rantz. 

According to Mr. Rantz, the detector will go off if it detects vapor and will immediately contact him, Mr. Bergey and Dean of Students Mr. William Campbell with the location of the bathroom.