Taboo at the dinner table

Editor's note: Last Wednesday was – yes – "World Toilet Day." So we turned to perspective from the man who has led the charge for improved restrooms in schools. Which, if you've been in one lately, you'll know is a highly worthy cause. Students and parents alike, we invite you to respond. Thank you.

Tom Keating
Founder, Project CLEAN

Growing up during the 1950s in Bradford, Pennsylvania, some topics were taboo at the dinner table.

"That subject is not of general interest," my mother would say, if any of her five children crossed that line.

Those subjects included the condition of the restrooms in 2nd Ward Elementary, Getz Junior High School or Bradford High School.

As an adult, I feel no such restriction.

As an educator for nearly four decades, I have talked daily since the mid-1990s about the need to improve the sanitation and safety of the nation's more than 97,000 school restrooms.

My 13-year campaign began with complaints from my son and daughter, along with a neighbor's son.

I've heard horror stories from Pomona, California, to Christina, Delaware, and from Decatur, Georgia, to Portales, New Mexico. Almost everybody has memories of smoke-filled, graffiti-scratched, dangerous, dark, door-less spaces with cold water, but without soap, towels, tissue or sanitary receptacles.

As far back as April 1993, a newspaper survey found that 43 percent – more than two out of every five – of middle- and high-school students avoided the school restrooms. And that percentage has changed little since.

My experience after visiting hundreds of schools in more than 18 states in this country and in other nations confirms that countless children, from elementary through high school, "hold it" all day. Then there are those who hold their noses, figuratively and literally, dash in and out of school restrooms, but do not report problems.

These kids receive less attention than the smaller number who damage, disrupt, and disrespect the restrooms.

These chambers affect attitudes toward school. They may be the last thing parents consider when thinking about education. And the last thing many administrators may worry about, either.

How much better things might be if we listened to pupils such as Theresa Clash.

Teresa, an eighth-grader from Helena-West Helena in the delta of Arkansas, reached me in 2004. She wrote this letter, which is among the most touching of the emails, phone calls, oral histories and casual remarks students have shared with me since "Project CLEAN" began in 1996.

Excerpts from Theresa Clash letter 28 May 2004

"Our restrooms look unbelievably bad. Our restrooms don't have enough tissue, no paper towels, and most of all, no soap. Females need those kinds of supplies in their restrooms.

Our restrooms are so hideous that they are leaning over. Our restrooms make me ashamed because when visitors come from out of town or when parents visit the school, they have to see our horrible restrooms.

All of our restroom toilet seats are filthy. They have scratches of paint coming off of them. They also are half broken, and some of them are covered with feces. We deserve better restrooms.

I'm willing to organize a group of students that are willing to raise money if you need to. Please contact me if there is anything I can do."

A fellow educator and I visited Theresa, a school friend and her mother. We met with school authorities and succeeded in improving the condition of the stalls and painting of the walls.

Do you know whether or not your child's school restrooms are like Theresa's?

Have you visited your son or daughter's school restrooms, especially those in middle and high schools?

Talk to other students. They may have become immune to the problems, but still need adults to care about the condition of those restrooms.

Poke your head in on teacher conference nights.

Better yet, drop by unannounced, sign in at the main office and to have a custodian tour with you after lunch.

Ask board members, administrators and other big shots who come to your school to look in the locker rooms or in distant hall restrooms away from the front lobby.

Yes, it is the students who use and abuse restrooms. But students alone cannot fix the national disgrace that is America's public school restrooms.

Don't ask you child "How are the restrooms?" That is like asking a child in fourth grade, "How is school?" He'll say fine and head to his room.

Ask your older children, "Do you have soap? Tissue? Towels? Sanitary Receptacles? Doors? Locks? Are there nasty words? Smoking? Drugs?

Involve the school's student council. Involve your local PTA.

Demand that policy statements should be amended to include a provision that "Schools shall provide safe, clean, hygienic restrooms."

Ask if health classes are talking about restroom etiquette, hand washing, and hygiene.

Most of all, overcome the habits which makes us feel that school restrooms are a taboo place, about which we do not talk, because someone has said the subject is not of general interest.

Contact me at Project CLEAN. I'll be glad to help.

Click here for more on Project CLEAN. To contact Tom Keating, email him at projectclean@mindspring.com, or you can send mail to Project CLEAN, P.O. Box 125, Decatur, GA 30031