Parents and students who spoke to PLN about the situation say metal gates bar the entrances of several bathrooms throughout the school building at 839 Garrisonville Road in North Stafford.
Students and parents told PLN the majority of the school’s bathrooms are closed during a school-wide lunch hour. The hour-long lunch, which allows all students one hour to eat lunch, seek college counseling, catch up on studies, meet with teachers, or attend lunch-and-learn sessions, was instituted at the start of the current school year in August 2022 at all five county high schools.
Several parents have told PLN that unstructured time during the hour-long lunch is to blame for an increasing number of fights in schools and the rising vaping problem. Closed restrooms have led to increased lines at bathrooms that remain open and an uptick in tardiness to classes due to long waits at open restrooms.
Katherine Buckman, a student representative on the Stafford County School Board, reported administrators at Colonial Forge High School revoked the hour-long lunch period due to behavioral problems.
Meanwhile, at North Stafford, the vaping problem occurs “frequently in the mornings and periodically throughout the day,” according to school division spokeswoman Sandra Osborn “School administrators have closed some bathrooms on a rolling basis for supervision purposes,” Osborn told PLN in an email.
“There are more than sufficient restrooms open for student use,” she added.
Osborn adds, “Habitual offenders are offered the opportunity to address the issue with their school counselor.” She adds that North Stafford High School administrators regularly assessed the need for rolling bathroom closures.
The school division is considering launching an anti-vaping campaign targeting students and installing vape detectors inside school buildings. The school division banned smoking and vaping by students and staff on school property.
Behavioral problems inside Stafford Schools have become such an issue Garrisonville District School Board member called out the problem during her meeting remarks on Tuesday, February 14, 2023.
First: To parents. Talk to your kids. As Board Members, we get a daily snapshot of what is happening in our schools and on our buses. If I look at the 2nd half of last year vs. 1st half of this year…there is no comparison. Our kids are acting out. In every school. At every age level.
My first piece of advice is to: Check the Tech. if your child uses it, check it often. What happens online does not happen in a vacuum. Threats of violence, bullying behavior, though conducted ‘virtually’, have real consequences in our schools.
In addition to this, its time to have those hard conversations with your kids. About substance abuse; violence; self harm. If your child is not experiencing these things first hand; they’re seeing it or hearing about it. Talk to them. Truly.
According to a January 2023 report, there have been nearly 1,500 disciplinary incidents at Stafford County high schools since the start of the school year. The most common incidents include students not going to classes, showing up late to class, having cell phones in class, and students refusing to comply with staff.
Regarding cell phones as a distraction in the classroom, Griffis-Widewater District School Board member Dr. Elizabeth Warner says she would support banning cell phones in classrooms, which have been commonplace since September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York City and Arlington. She made the comments during the February 14, 2023, meeting.
