In November, administrators at Rancho Cucamonga High School removed the last mirror in the girl’s restroom on campus that is student accessible. RCHS has had mirrors come and go in the restrooms throughout the years, but it seems as though students may not get bathroom mirrors back for a while.
In the 2022-2023 school year, two mirrors in one girl’s bathroom in the quad were removed because they were destroyed by students, leaving one bathroom on the opposite side with two remaining mirrors that were being used by girls in every grade. Now, administrators have decided to remove the last student mirror on campus from the east quad restroom because it was unstable.
Now, students are having to use their own mirrors, look in windows, or use the camera on their Chromebooks to check their appearances. And while there are no rules or guidelines that require California schools to provide students with access to a public mirror, some students are upset.
“I have my own big mirror in my backpack since they neglected our right to have a mirror,” sophomore Elizabeth Sandoval-Salazar said.
Many students have complained about the mirror removal. Assistant Principal of Educational Services Mr. Robert Sanchez explained the reasoning behind these removals and what is in store for the future of bathroom amenities at RCHS.
“There are repeated offenses and the district is having to constantly replace everything damaged and it is expensive,” Sanchez said.
Considering the past bathroom vandalism, it is that small population of students’ choices which led admin to remove these items altogether because it would be too expensive to constantly replace vandalized items.
“Everything brand new is getting broken such as the paper towel dispensers, the hand dryers, soap dispensers, and even the doors,” Educational Services Secretary Ms. Stacy Ransdell said.
On Friday, December 1, new paper towel dispensers were added to the student bathrooms. At the end of that same day, they had been removed because students were destroying them and stuffing the paper towels into the toilets causing them to clog. This incident is just one example of the destruction on campus that results in the school losing certain amenities.
Mirrors get removed when students cause damage to the restrooms. However, the issue is more than that. Damaged and broken mirrors can also pose many dangers, so that also leads to their removal.
“It shuts down the bathroom and students lose access to them,” Ransdell said.
Along with costing schools financially, vandalism to bathrooms brings a multitude of safety issues to students and staff. Damages to mirrors are particularly dangerous considering if the glass shatters it can be very hazardous.
This isn’t a problem isolated to just RCHS though. According to administration, all of the schools in the Chaffey Joint Union High School District are facing the same issue.
“Right now, it’s pretty doubtful that there will be any new mirrors in the future,” Ransdell said.
