Weston High to keep some bathroom doors open

— The outer doors for some bathrooms will be kept open at Weston High School to address recent issues, Interim Principal Juliane Givoni said in a message to parents and students.

“This is due to a need for increased monitoring in these spaces,” Givoni said in the message sent out on Monday.

The change is in response to issues the school has had with “vaping, vandalism, graffiti, eating/gathering, and other inappropriate behaviors” that have made students uncomfortable, she said. Only doors where the school can “ensure privacy” will be opened.

Givoni’s message said that students who attempt to close the bathroom doors will be subject to “disciplinary consequences” and their efforts will “be viewed as insubordination.”

The school primarily relied on student reporting and staff supervision to address the behavior, according to the message.

“We are reiterating with students the importance of reporting to school staff any inappropriate behaviors taking place at school, and I hope that you will reinforce this message at home as well,” Givoni said.

Givoni declined to comWESTON ment Tuesday. Superintendent Lisa Wolak could not be reached for immediate comment.

The high school had previous issues with its bathrooms in September 2021. School officials reported some cases of vandalism in the bathrooms as a part of a viral TikTok trend at the time.

Weston isn’t only in addressing issues in its high school bathrooms.

New Milford High School closed certain bathrooms in 2019 in response to students vaping in its bathrooms. They were reopened after a student started an online petition that garnered hundreds of signatures.

Parents in Stamford included a line about bathroom policies in the district in an online petition last week expressing doubt in Superintendent Tamu Lucero and Associate Superintendent Amy Beldotti. The petition has more than 500 signatures.

The petition says there is “vaping and drug use in bathrooms” and “bathrooms are locked throughout buildings to help deter the violence.”

Over 1.7 million high school students reported e-cigarette use in 2021 for a Center for Disease Control study, representing 11.3 percent of the population surveyed.