Fall River school changes bathroom policy to reduce student vaping
By: Ellie Romano
Email: ERomano@ABC6.com
Twitter: @ERomanoABC6
FALL RIVER, Mass. (WLNE) – Teen vaping has gotten out of hand at B.M.C. Durfee High School in Fall River, according to the school’s principal.
Principal Matthew Desmarais tells ABC6 that students were vaping the most in the bathrooms during class.
To try and combat the issue, Desmarais created a new bathroom policy that periodically closes a majority of the bathrooms.
The policy was rolled out in December and states only the two large bathrooms on the first and second floor will stay open at all times.
The rest of the smaller bathrooms are closed for the first and last 10 minutes of class, during the last 20 minutes of the day, and before and after school.
The exact times are listed below:
- Locked until 8:05 a.m.
- Locked 8:45 a.m. – 9:09 a.m.
- Locked 9:49 a.m. – 10:13 a.m.
- Locked 10:53 a.m. – 12:46 p.m.
- Locked 1:26 p.m. – 1:50 p.m.
- Locked at 2:30 p.m.
“I am 300% behind that,” said parent Dick Phillips. “[Students] should wait until they’re of age to make the proper decisions, and until that point just stay away from [vapes].”
Principal Desmarais said the policy is working and that the number of students vaping has gone down since last month.
But not all parents support the protocol.
“You’re punishing the whole school for just those few. Which is sad,” said parent Susanne Worsely.
She said her daughter doesn’t have enough time to walk across the school to get to the larger bathrooms that are always open.
“When they get down there, the kids that are in there are the ones that are vaping, so they don’t want to go into the bathroom at all,” said Worsely.
An online petition to repeal the bathroom protocol has been created.
“Especially when you’re a girl, you need to go to the bathroom at certain times,” said Worsely.
According to the policy, students with legitimate emergencies should be allowed to leave the room to access bathrooms and/or nurses.
©WLNE-TV/ABC 6 2020
