MACES has a total of nine functioning student restrooms in its main building, three on each floor, but only three are operational during school hours. Surveillance is the reason for only three restrooms open during hours since the front office wants a hall monitor guarding the restroom doors while they’re open to keep students from doing things they’re not supposed to be doing or wasting time. Do the students of MACES feel like hall monitors are necessary though?

     “I don’t think hallway monitors are very necessary at our school because drug use or illegal activities aren’t as present at our school,” said sophomore, Isael Perez. Bernstein high school in Hollywood had a news-breaking incident where four students overdosed on fentanyl, leaving one dead and the three others hospitalized. This incident left a lot of schools in the Los Angeles area on high alert for drug use on campus, but is it a big issue at MACES as it is at other schools, or is the surveillance and strict rules actually what keep drug use from being a problem at MACES? “I think it’s bigger in other schools because they’ve been around for longer and our school is pretty strict compared to other schools,” Emiliano Espinoza, a senior, said. 

     Privacy is important but it seems as if the safety of our students is placed higher by the staff, rather than the privilege of having privacy. “I don’t feel comfortable when I’m trying to take my time using the restroom and the hall monitors hurry me from outside to get out,” said Espinoza. Others like senior Logan Guerrero, actually don’t care about being monitored but don’t like the invasion of their privacy. “I don’t mind the hall monitors but the fact that the doors are open, it feels like I get no privacy when I use the restroom,” said Guerrero.

     Two-thirds of the restrooms being closed leaves students to wonder why this school even has inoperational restrooms. “The girls’ restrooms are always crowded in between [class] periods, so sometimes I don’t even get to use the restroom so I think they should open more,” Alexa Mora, a junior, said.

     Mora is just one of many girls at MACES that feel this way. “If the school wants to monitor people using the restroom then they should just hire more monitors but those restrooms need to be open,” Mora said.