Hidden Camera Investigation Finds

Deplorable Conditions in Public School Bathrooms

source: By Inside Edition, © King World Productions, Inc.

Tuesday February 22, 2005

An Inside Edition investigation has found deplorable and dangerous conditions in a number of public school bathrooms. In a hidden camera report that aired Tuesday, Feb. 22, Inside Edition Senior Investigative Correspondent Matt Meagher, in visits to several schools in Miami and Washington D.C., found conditions that would likely shock parents.

Among the findings were toilets that are clogged or totally out of order, standing water all over the floors, stopped-up sinks, no paper towels, no soap, broken seats too hazardous to sit on, and sinks overflowing with water.

Inside Edition producers walked through bathrooms at schools right after classes let out for the day, and with no students present. Many students, in fact, do everything they can to avoid using public school bathrooms. “They hold it in all day,” says Dr. Tom Keating, an educator who runs Project CLEAN, an organization devoted to cleaning up public school bathrooms. Keating told Inside Edition deplorable school bathrooms are an epidemic and can be found almost anywhere. Keating also said the bathrooms do more than turn stomachs -- they send a strong message to the students who have no choice but to use them. “They say to the kids, ‘We don't care about you.’”

At Miami Jackson Senior High, students cope with clogged toilets, no soap or paper towels and clogged sinks. In one bathroom, Inside Edition cameras found a soda can lodged into a faucet in order to get water running. At Miami Northwestern, a newer high school, conditions were a bit cleaner but far from good. There were paper towels, but no soap, a stall door was broken off and was never replaced. And the smell in the bathrooms is overpowering, Inside Edition reports.

Inside Edition gathered a group of current and recent Miami high school students, who say their bathrooms are so bad they find creative ways to avoid them. Ashley Martin told Inside Edition she goes home. Margaret Eugene said, “Burger King was my number one option, but I would have to think about making it back to class on time.” And Anthony Allen said he avoids liquids during the day: “I can hold it in.”  

 

Dr. Keating says unfortunately that’s a common solution for many students and it can lead to health problems, including urinary tract infections. Miami middle school student Erika Pearson has already had two infections this school year, according to her mother. The 13 year-old refuses to use what she calls a nasty bathroom. “I go in there and then I don't use the bathroom, and I just go back out.”

Everyone Inside Edition spoke to, including all of the students, admit that the youngsters share responsibility for keeping the bathrooms clean. But in Miami, according to some students, the situation has simply gotten out of hand.

 

Inside Edition showed its video to Joseph Garcia, spokesman for the Miami-Dade county school district. “I think the word that comes to mind is deplorable,” he said. Garcia says the district battles with school overcrowding, and, that while the number of students increases, the number of custodians stays the same.

“That is by no means a solid reason for us to have seen the conditions you found,” he admitted. The district's administration has been in office for less than a year, but, after seeing the Inside Edition videotape, tells the newsmagazine bathroom maintenance will be a top priority.

Inside Edition also visited school bathrooms in Washington D.C. There the situation has gotten so bad, a group of students snapped pictures of deplorable conditions and presented them to the board of education last year.

To see if the situation improved, Inside Edition producers walked through bathrooms at five Washington D.C. high schools right after classes let out for the day, and with no students present. Cameras found toilets and urinals out of order, broken soap dispensers and clogged toilets. At Cardozo High School, near the capitol, there was only one boy's room in the entire school of more than 700 students. And on the day Inside Edition was there, many of the toilets and urinals were totally out of order. At a girl's bathroom at Eastern High School, a missing stall door left little privacy, and again, there was no soap or paper towels.

Ann Caton, of the Youth Education Alliance in Washington D.C., told Inside Edition: “We are in the capitol of the most powerful nation in the world and this is how we're treating our students.” She also notes the conditions are not conducive to learning: “If you're worried all day about holding it in, or if you're worried that you have to track down a teacher or custodian to find a roll of toilet paper, it's going to be really hard to concentrate on your education.”

In response to Inside Edition’s findings, the D.C. Public Schools issued a statement saying it just completed an action plan for high school bathrooms that will include repairs, additional supplies and maintenance. “We expect this plan to be fully in place within the next two months,” according to Cornell S. Brown Jr., Executive Director, Office of Facilities Management.