The student news site of Grand Junction High School

The Orange and Black Newspaper

The student news site of Grand Junction High School

The Orange and Black Newspaper

The student news site of Grand Junction High School

The Orange and Black Newspaper

Papers belong in classrooms, not in the sewage

GJHS students have been found to be flushing paper down the toilet in the now-closed gender neutral bathrooms
Gender+neutral+bathrooms+out+of+order+due+to+backed+up+sewage.
Maddy Parkhurst
Gender neutral bathrooms out of order due to backed up sewage.

Students flushing paper down toilets has been a very unexpected and expensive problem for GJHS custodians. 

Maintenance has found that sewage has been backing up in the school’s only two gender neutral bathrooms. The two bathrooms, found in the commons, are the only bathrooms affected by the sewage and are the only two that are temporarily closed.

“Students have been flushing writing paper down the toilets and it has backed up the sewage,” said GJHS head custodian Jason Garrison.

The amount of paper that had been flushed got to the point where it would cause a backup that flooded the entrance into the counseling office. Around the drains you can see some remains of paper that was in the sewage.

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“It’s annoying. I would like to see the process of getting rid of the sewage [problem] go a little faster, ” said GJHS junior Athalia Gonzales. 

With the closing of the bathrooms, it has caused students many problems. Some of the problems have been for students with classrooms located by the library. Another problem has been with transgender students who don’t know what bathroom to use now – or they don’t feel comfortable using the other bathrooms around the school.

The school district had plumbers come out and look at the sewage system. The plumbers would snake the drain to clear the blockage. This needed to be done around three times a week due the mass volumes of paper. Due to the expensive cost it was decided that it would be best to close the bathrooms for a while, according to Garrison.

 

For more on bathroom-related issues at GJHS, also read: OPINION: The male and female bathrooms are having a major sanitation issue 

Paper coming out of the sewage pipes near the commons. (Maddy Parkhurst)

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About the Contributors
Maddy Parkhurst
Maddy Parkhurst, Managing Editor
Maddy is a junior and has been with the orange and black since her freshman year and she was a photo editor last year. This year she is managing editor and is hoping to gather information to help students know what is happening around them in their school. She enjoys picnics and doing fun art projects and is also involved in cross country and track.
Alexia Bailey
Alexia Bailey, Reporter
Alexia Bailey is a senior and this is her first year as a reporter for the Orange and Black. Outside of school, she works with kids, writes poetry and taxis her friends around. She hopes to bring new creativity to the Orange and Black and write articles.

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    Lincoln McQuadeDec 14, 2023 at 1:36 pm

    My eyes widened by about 10000% when I saw the picture. Imagine you’re just trying to clean some bathrooms and some kids flush stacks of writing paper down just for the sake of it. Awful behavior.