At approximately 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 11, students wandered the halls in search of a working bathroom. It wasn’t the first time such a scene unfolded; earlier this year, students voiced concerns about limited bathroom access. Previously, the inconvenience arose when most of the school bathrooms were temporarily closed during certain times of the day. On Thursday, however, BVH faced a more serious issue: not a single restroom on campus was operational due to a damaged water line caused by on-site construction. 

When The Crusader reached out to construction workers, Assistant Principals and other relevant administrators for comment, they declined to speak on the matter as of this morning. By the afternoon, however, Principal Dr. Alex Salazar gave a general overview of the incident.

“We had a waterline break in our construction site in the quad area. A truck accidentally rolled over an area, and it caused a break in one of the water lines. We had to shut off the main water valve,” Salazar said. “It was close to nutrition break, and we had a decision to make–students cannot have inaccessibility to restrooms–so we turned the water back on even though it flooded the quad area, so that might delay their [construction] project.”

Before second period ended, teachers received an email from administration stating that the bathrooms were open and water was functional—though, in reality, that was not the case. Bathrooms remained closed as construction workers and staff, such as campus assistant Karla Valdez, moved in and out. At the same time, water fountains produced little more than a dribble, with some shut off entirely.

Gallery • 3 Photos

Elizabeth Hoffman

On Dec. 11, Freshman Gemma Mashburn presses the button on the water fountain near the 700s bathroom, but no water comes out. Out of the dozens of faucets on campus, this was just one of the waterless ones.

Bathrooms were reopened to students during nutrition break, but under strict conditions. None of the toilets could be flushed, leaving waste and toilet paper piled in the bowls. A staff member was assigned to each bathroom to send students into stalls one at a time. At the 300s bathrooms, Assistant Principal Sarah Sanchez monitored the girls’ restroom while campus assistant Oscar Paniagua oversaw the boys’ restroom. Contrary to the good-natured, otherwise factually correct email sent by Salazar in fourth period, the restrooms were not “fully operational” for students during nutrition break.

Inside the girls’ 300s bathroom, Sanchez offered students hand sanitizer in place of the sinks that, at the time, were still running dry. “Oh hell no,” one student said before exiting the bathroom line completely. By the end of nutrition break, students were still in lines waiting to use the bathroom. Consequently, before the bell rang, Salazar issued a statement over the intercom announcing that a ten minute grace period would be granted for students to get to fourth period on time, given the drawn out wait times for the bathrooms. Note, however, lines of students were still waiting to use the bathroom as late as 15 minutes into fourth period.

Outside each bathroom, lines of students waiting to use the facilities gathered, along with crowds of others trying to figure out what was going on. As the situation unfolded, students grew agitated. By the end of nutrition break, many were suggesting that they ought to be released from school entirely, though Paniagua advised against this and suggested students call their parents before making any effort to leave campus. Special Education students were released at this time.

The dysfunctional bathrooms, sinks and fountains presented an issue to students on campus, such as senior Dylan Hash, who attempted to find a water fountain to take his medication earlier in the day, but was immediately unable to do so. Freshman Gemma Mashburn was another student among those who needed access to water, and when she went to the nurse’s office in hopes of resolving the issue, the nurse was not present and Mashburn had to wait.

In light of the need for student access to facilities, portable toilets were brought on campus around the middle of fourth period, along with accompanying manual washing stations. Cases of plastic water bottles were also provided to classrooms across campus. Salazar explained that this was part of their plan following the initial break in the pipe.

Gallery • 4 Photos

Elizabeth Hoffman

On Dec. 11, portable toilets and sinks were placed near the restrooms. A student is seen washing her hands to the right, with a construction worker walking to the semi-truck behind her.

“We went into a contingency plan because we knew we had to turn [the water] off after nutrition break. It included a palette of water that contained 1800 water bottles and eight porta-potties that included washing stations,” Salazar said. “We communicated that information out to staff, although that information may not have made it out to everyone and it created a bit of chaos between nutrition break and lunch time. The porta-potties were only a backup plan, used after nutrition break to lunch time. Now the restrooms are open and will be accessible the rest of the school day, including tomorrow.”

The broken pipe that catalyzed the incident was fixed by construction workers toward the end of fourth period, and teachers received an email detailing that water would be running again in the next thirty minutes—and it did.

Initial chaos ensued when the pipe unexpectedly broke, but after a couple of hours, it was fixed and BVH administration and construction staff are working to ensure a conflict like this does not occur again.

*The Crusader is still waiting on a comment from Assistant Principal Fernandez and Sirigusa.