14 DAY TRIAL // Students at Mahanoy Area High School for boys, in Pennsylvania, are requested to “sign out” toilet paper every time they use the bathroom.
The measure comes after repeated vandalism incidents, according to school officials, quoted by the Republican Herald.
"We've had serious destruction to our bathrooms for the past two years. [...] We have a case pending with the police where a bathroom down by our gymnasium was absolutely destroyed,” High school Principal Thomas Smith explains.
“Our toilets have been jammed with toilet paper and other papers. And after we took the toilet tissue out of there, people were throwing books. It was our way to try to curb the destruction in the bathrooms," he adds.
School boys are required to go to the administration office or the nurse and request the paper, and signing a form noting that they are using the bathroom is implied. Applying the policy has proven fruitful, as a decrease in vandalism acts has been recorded.
“We're not refusing anyone toilet paper. [...] You would sign out and then sign back in. I randomly go in to check if anything is going on. Since we've done that, we've cut down on the destruction," the principal clarifies.
The admittedly drastic measure is raising concerns among parents, who believe their children feel humiliated, and are embarrassed to make the request for toilet paper.
Karen Yedsena spoke on the matter during a school board meeting, also pointing out that only the first five minutes of the class are available for students to ask to use the bathroom. She claims that, as a result, they prefer to tell the nurse they are not feeling well, and leave school for the rest of the day.
"I'm asking about the high school and why the boys are not allowed to have toilet paper except if they go to the nurse or the office to get it," Yedsena says.
"We're cutting down on people walking through the hallways for no reason. [...] What we're trying to do, is that they're going to the bathroom at the beginning and end of class," Superintendent Joie Green responds.