Over the past month, the bathrooms at Bernards have been shut down due to plumbing issues. These issues have been dating back to March 10th, when the B-200 restrooms were shut down for the first time. The bathrooms were reopened a day later but then shut down that exact day. It took six days for the bathrooms to reopen, but that too only lasted three days before closing their doors again. On March 24th, Dr. Corbett posted on the grade Google Classrooms that the B-200 bathrooms would be indefinitely closed. Luckily the bathrooms reopened on April 2nd.

As the B-200 bathrooms are located in the B-200 hallway, the history hallway was a prime and easy location to reach from any class. Closing them forced students to go farther from their classrooms, to use the restrooms located by the cafeteria or in the A-300 hallway. This inconvenience has been noticed by faculty and students who hope the situation will remain fixed.  

Jacob Grabowski ‘27 said, “It’s a terrible and annoying situation as I have to take a long detour that cuts class time.” 

During these shutdowns, plumbing crews could be seen coming and going throughout the school to fix the bathrooms. When asked what the main problem appeared to be, Dr. Neigel, referring to information shared by Dr. Brotschul, Superintendent of Schools, said, “It appears that there is some pipe settling, which creates an opportunity for paper and solids to accumulate, potentially leading to blockages.” He further indicated that “[a]n engineer examined the matter, and it was reported that there was a significant bit of standing water at various points in the pipe.”

According to Dr. Neigel, these issues started last year but worsened this year, causing the eventual shutdown. He also mentioned, “It really is an ongoing issue of low-flush toilets not being able to overcome the settling of old pipes,” He continues “Plastic pipes don’t have this problem, and plastic has been the saving grace for low-flush toilets outside of the urban areas.”

Luckily, there is a new flushing system in the works, that aims to prevent further blockage. Dr. Neigel hopes that after testing the new system, the bathrooms will no longer be an issue and students can return to the B-200 bathrooms for good. 

While most people do not harp on the location of bathrooms, the time it takes to reach alternate areas can take away valuable classroom time, leading to missed information in the classroom. The school is taking the plumbing issues seriously to help students and the future of BHS.