By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The Hays USD 489 school board had a heated discussion on Monday night about bathroom use, vandalism and behaviors at Hays High School.
Superintendent Ron Wilson reported at the last school board meeting that someone had removed multiple sensors for flush valves from bathrooms at Hays High.
The school investigated the incident but was unable to identify the person who stole the sensors.
All of the sensors have been replaced, and the school has not had any further issues with sensor thefts. Wilson said if the person who stole the sensors is caught, it is the intent of the district to prosecute. The amount of the loss would mean the crime would be a felony.
The district had issues early in the school year with defective locks on the individual bathrooms. Wilson said all of the locks were replaced as part of the warranty on the new school.
Hays High Principal Shawn Henderson said the school also had issues earlier in the school year with group bathrooms in the athletic wing.
Wilson said students were jumping on and standing on the sinks.
As a result, those bathrooms were closed for student use during the school day. The locker room bathrooms remain open. The athletic wing bathrooms are open to the public during sporting events.
Vajnar said the public was told during the construction of the high school that students would have the choice between individual bathrooms or group bathrooms.
Wilson said, "That would be with anything in the school. If they don't use it appropriately, they are going to lose privileges."
Vajnar said, "I would like to use the bathroom where I want to use the bathroom when I need to use the bathroom."
Henderson said, "Anyone who does this job ... Large groups of people in a bathroom are not a safe thing."
He said it is hard to quantify problems, such as fights, that are not happening because large groups of people are not gathering in the group bathrooms.
Vajnar said a few bad apples are denying the rest of the students use of the group bathrooms.
Board member Ruth Ruder said she agreed with the group bathrooms remaining closed.
Some community discussion had been sparked on Facebook, with a commenter saying girls did not want to use the individual bathrooms at the high school because they were messy.
Wilson said he thought the bathroom issue had been overstated.
"Just because it is on Facebook does not mean it's real and happening," he said. "The scope is greatly exaggerated."
Wilson said all schools struggle with vandalism inside their bathrooms.
"Just because it is a new school does not make it exempt from vandalism," he said. "It happens. We don't like it, and we will do everything we can to hold people accountable."
However, he said the high school will begin cleaning the bathrooms twice a day—once midday and once at the end of the day.
Henderson said if something is left in a bathroom that should not be there, staff use recordings from cameras outside of the bathrooms to try to determine who left the item.
If the bathroom is left messy, the custodians clean the bathroom, he said.
Board members Allen Park and Jayme Goetz wanted to know if the school tracks messes or vandalism within the bathrooms.
The district has a ticket system through buildings and grounds to request and track repairs.
Henderson invited the school board members to visit the schools and walk the building with him during school hours.
"I don't know if we have another building in the district or even Hays, Kansas, that hosts so many humans," he said. "We are hosting everybody to the tune of thousands."
Goetz said, "We are asking about the intentional destruction of property that would cost the district money if it is not addressed. There needs to be documentation on those things happening."
Ruder said, "We are acting like vandalism isn't new. It's been going on since the beginning of time. ... It boils down to how you parent your children."
Goetz said, "I agree parents parent your kids, but also we need to hold them accountable for it in our spaces that our community is paying for."
Craig Pallister, board member and former Hays Middle School principal, said bathroom issues were a problem when he was a high school student as well as in his many years as a principal.
"I am sure every principal would like to not have to monitor the bathrooms, but they do," he said.
Henderson said administration calls home whenever they discover issues in a bathroom and they can determine who caused the problem.
Wilson said the administration could not reveal details of the discipline of specific students because of privacy issues.
Henderson said, "I would hope if someone has a problem, they would reach out. We want to take care of our school."
Elementary school principals Anita Scheve and Rene Burns both said that problems with bathrooms or vandalism occur throughout the district on occasion, and that reporting is handled the same way.
However, Burns said each student is dealt with differently because each student is different. She said the goal of all disciplinary action, whether a student is 5 or 18, is learning.
The principals discussed the difficulty in using the cameras to determine who might have done damage in a restroom.
Board member Derek Yarmer said he did not think the cameras outside the bathrooms were adequate for safety or security purposes.
Ruder said, "If we would talk on test scores instead of restrooms all of the time, what a wonderful world it would be."
Park continued to ask questions about the bathrooms and tried to assert that they were gender neutral. All of Hays High bathrooms are marked either for males or females.
Board member Ken Brooks shot back.
"We've had this discussion many times in the past," Brooks said. "and you keep saying the same things, over and over and over, and they have been answered for you.
"The administrators just felt all of them attacked. We don't micromanage. That's not our job here on the board, so they shouldn't fee like it's us versus them. You are continuing to do that."
"If you want the information, ask it, but let's end this, because there is nothing more to discuss right now," Brooks said.