Marshall is a great place at George School for socializing, hanging out with friends, and meeting new people. The building is also the frequent location of various disrespectfully-labeled “incidents.” These wrongdoings, such as abandoned food or trashed spots, are brought to students’ attention from time to time, through schoolwide emails addressing them. There have been times where aspects of Marshall were restricted as punishment, with the message that Marshall “is a privilege” made clear. The entirety of Marshall was even closed down for a few days last year, after a specific incident. As of last week, though, the boys’ bathroom was on the chopping block.
Marshall’s boys’ bathroom was recently shut down due to an act of vandalism. The incident was not reported in an email, though the news nonetheless spread throughout the school. Upon asking my friends why the bathroom was locked, I was repeatedly told that someone, or a group of people, had intentionally urinated all over the floors and walls. This description initially made it seem to me that this was a one-time occurance, though still being more severe than the other Marshall happenings as of late. However, upon talking to the deans about it for the purpose of this article, I learned that there is more to the story.
According to the deans, this was not the first time that the Marshall boys’ bathroom was attacked by vandalism of this sort. In reality, this has been going on since the beginning of the school year. Environmental Service, which is tasked with cleaning the school buildings, including the bathrooms, first came across the destruction of the Marshall bathroom in September. The damage was large, as there was “urine on the floor, and feces spread on the wall and toilet seats”. Even worse, though, is that someone had to clean it all up.
This person later reported the situation to the deans, which is how they first became aware of it. However, the custodian insisted they “wait and see” if this happens again before taking action. It could not have been the gradual accumulation of mess in the bathroom that caused this, though, because that does not explain the feces on the wall, nor explain why it was not reported before the custodian came in. Thankfully, things “calmed down for a bit” after the initial occurrence, but the vandalism soon started happening again every few weeks, throughout the rest of September and October.
The deans state that they would hear reports from custodians once or twice a year about a bathroom being in bad condition, but it was never like this, with several vandalism incidents in only two months. More outrageously, since they were in charge of it, the same person had to keep cleaning up the trashed Marshall bathroom. As a result, this latest incident in November was the last straw, as the deans went on to shut down the Marshall boy’s bathroom. While this measure was in part a way to make sure the vandalizer(s) stays away and that people learn their lesson, it was also to sympathize with the Environmental Service worker tasked with repeatedly cleaning up after them.
The bathroom has since opened back up, but there is still the chance that the vandalizer may strike again. So, please, people. Keep things clean, and respect our custodians.
