Recently, bathrooms in the upstairs and downstairs science wing of the high school have been locked in response to students smoking in the bathrooms. This is an inconvenience to many students and teachers. Many classes are near these bathrooms and it is extremely obnoxious to have to walk twice the distance just to go pee.

Parents have complained to administration that they have not taken enough measures to prevent students from smoking in the bathrooms, and apparently the schools bright idea is to lock them. Administration is trying to limit the amount of places that students have to smoke. The school’s intentions and efforts are good. However, these measures are not going to help the drug problem in Glen Rock High School.

If parents are concerned about their children and the drug issue in Glen Rock they should talk to their children directly. It is not entirely the school’s fault for students smoking in the bathrooms. Although it is the school’s responsibility, it is also the responsibility of parents to educate and control their children. The school can not control a student’s home life, but parents certainly can. Parents should make better efforts to stop their children from smoking before blaming others for their children’s actions.

It is inconvenient and blatantly unfair that students who have not smoked in school bathrooms are being locked out of bathrooms close to their classes. It takes away from their time to learn.

This situation is also very annoying to teachers because they are already interrupted enough by students needing to use the bathroom, and now it is increasingly worse. The time it takes to use the bathroom will double for students since they have to travel double the distance.

Bottom line, if parents are so concerned about their children smoking in school, they should take action themselves and not place the blame upon the school. Parents are responsible for their children, and they should keep a closer eye on them.

Students who are not smoking in school should not have to search for a bathroom to use just because of this drug issue.

Locking bathrooms is not going to stop students from smoking in school. This is a misguided effort to stop the drug issue teenagers face in Glen Rock. Instead, parents should get control over their children and try to prevent them from making stupid decisions like smoking in the school bathroom.