School Sanitation Crisis: Students Speak Out on Deplorable Bathroom Conditions During Senate Hearing

Students voice concerns over unhygienic conditions and lack of basic amenities

Several St. Croix students appeared before the Senate Committee on Education and Workforce Development this week to talk about how infrastructural challenges are affecting their learning experience. A standout issue in the testimony from the young people was challenges with the bathroom facilities at their learning institutions.

Eighth-grade student Alina Poyah told committee members, “the situation at Central High School is no improvement over what we’ve experienced at [John H.] Woodson.” She said that there are “dysfunctional toilets in all women’s restrooms, and limited cleaning…makes it hard to maintain a clean environment, rendering these facilities unusable.” Stating that there are only three cleaning employees for the entire school, Ms. Poyah disclosed that she has “refused to ever use those bathrooms due to how dirty they are.”

Makayla Walcott, another student of John H. Woodson, also highlighted the bathrooms for criticism. “While at Woodson, students constantly avoided using the bathroom, there was never enough paper towels or spa in the dispenser.” The graffiti in the stalls, she says, is “disgusting and repulsive.” Meanwhile, some of the washroom facilities are in “concerning” states of disrepair. “Personally, I didn’t even feel comfortable enough to go to the bathroom regularly, and I can attest to many of my friends feeling the same way.” Of the bathrooms at Central High, Walcott said that she had no personal experience because “I have not stepped foot into one. However, every single student I have spoken to says the same thing – the bathrooms are in terrible condition and just downright disgusting.”

Some bathrooms are functional, she conceded, but those are few and far between. “Students must walk down the stairs and guess their way around the campus to find a good bathroom,” she added, stating that her bathroom boycott would continue into the foreseeable future.

St. Croix Educational Complex sophomore Ace Poyer wondered how the public would be able to occupy the facility as a hurricane shelter given the dismal state of the washrooms on campus. “Half the urinals are dysfunctional, light bulbs need changing and door locks are broken,” he said. “The constant lack of soap, toilet paper and paper towels adds to how unsanitary the restrooms are.” He tries to hold his urine until he gets home, Boyer told senators, “because I try to avoid these restrooms as much as humanly possible.”