At Warren G. Harding, the restrooms are not monitored in any fashion. Once in a while a teacher or administrator might walk in, but other than that, the restrooms are pretty much free. Placing cameras in the restrooms would reduce that amount of smoking, skipping, sex, and vandalism; and students will be in class more.
Smoking occurs frequently in the school restrooms. Some students even admit to committing the act. As you may have heard, there was a trashcan fire in the first floor boys' bathroom some time ago this school year. Sure, the administrators found the person who caused the fire, but wouldn't they have found him faster if there were cameras?
Vandalism is common also. Often there are new words or phrases written on either the walls of the stalls or on the toilet paper holder. Sometimes the toilets are left unflushed, or the toilet seats have waste on them. With cameras pointed at the stall, the vandals can be caught and punished. Another frequent occurrence is skipping. Students can simply stay in the restrooms until their class is over or until they feel like going back. On some occasions, students might not get caught. If an administrator is watching the film from one of the cameras, he or she could reprimand the student and prevent skipping in the future.
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Many other schools around the country have cameras in their restrooms due to similar circumstances. Nearly 100,000 incidents of vandalism are reported in the US public school system each year. In Royal Palm Beach, Florida, Crestwood Middle School put cameras in their restrooms to stop vandalism. In 2003 and 2004, the National Center for Education Statistics showed that 33% of elementary schools, 42% of middle schools, and 60% of high schools use surveillance cameras.
All of Warren City Schools should install cameras in the restrooms to prevent future incidents. The schools will be safer and cleaner, and the district's students will spend more time in the classrooms and less time in the restrooms and hallways.