SHS locker rooms need attention, curtains

SHS locker rooms need attention, curtains

By Catherine Rogers

    Somerville High School students may have adjusted to the lack of privacy in their locker rooms and showers, but for School Committee Chair Charlene Harris the conditions are inexcusable.
    At  the Jan. 9 School Committee meeting, she spouted a series of concerns regarding long-ignored facilities at SHS, including a lack of shower and dressing room curtains, broken or missing seats in the changing areas and broken windows.

   “I had to harass someone to find tape and cardboard to cover a broken window,” she said.
Harris also noted a few dates as far back as June of 2005 when complaints were launched and work orders entered, but said she has seen no response.
    “I’m at an impasse. I can’t figure out what it takes for the DPW or someone from the facilities department to fix these things,” she said.
    Billine Jourdan, a SHS senior, can’t figure it out either. “How come we can’t get some curtains?” she asked after finishing track practice.
    In the girls’ locker room, privacy is scarce – just seven of 30 changing stalls have curtains.
   “It’s kind of an inconvenience, but you get used to it,” said Jourdan.
    Absent amenities like shower curtains and benches in changing areas don’t just affect the students at SHS, either. Over winter break, numerous visiting basketball teams utilized the rooms, and were shocked at the bare-bones facilities. Harris reported to the School Committee that the traveling teams said the locker rooms were “disgusting” and “looked like a jail.”
    Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone did not speak directly to the locker rooms, but made a guarded defense of the parties responsible for completing the work orders.
    He said custodians and facilities workers face broken windows and graffiti on a weekly basis and underscored the importance of documenting dates and times of specific complaints.
   “Before accusations are made, I hope you have that information,” he said. “I think you better have your facts straight.”
    Other schools around the city also need attention, said Harris.
At the Arthur D. Healey School, a door buzzer was reported broken six weeks ago. In that time, she said, the door has been left open, creating an unnecessary security breach for students and workers – and it still isn’t fixed.
    “I’ve tried every avenue I can think of,” she said.
    Not all school facilities issues go for weeks without resolution. On Jan. 9, when students at the Lincoln Park Community School arrived to an unheated building, the problem was fixed by noon, said Superintendent Anthony Pierantozzi.
Fortunately, the unseasonably warm weather eased the severity of the situation: had the temperature been lower, students would have had to move to the Winter Hill Community School, he said.
At the West Somerville Neighborhood School, a recent lack of hot water had students using hand sanitizer in the bathrooms and eating cold lunch in the cafeteria while the problem was fixed.
For now, students at SHS make do with the benches and curtains that exist. Jourdan said those who aren’t lucky enough to claim a coveted curtained stall just change quickly.
“And if you really feel uncomfortable, there’s always the bathroom,” she said.

Comments

[Of Course]

I agree with the Chairwoman of the School Committee. My child goes to the High School and she is totally embarrassed at the conditions they have to bare with. But you know what Ms. CH, you voted for the DPW to take over the janitors and you get what you agreed too.

Not only are the locker rooms in such disarray, the stairwells smell and are covered with dust and dirt. The cafe is another whole new topic. Our classrooms are either too hot or too cold. When the wind blows around the school, you can feel it right through the cracks by the windows.

How are students suppose to learn in an environment such as this. I know the City made themselves a deal with the School Committee a few years ago to be in charge of the janitors and all, but this lack of cleaning and repairs is ridiculous.

If repairs are not getting done, doesn't accountability get the nod? We now have 3 issues that accountability should be administered, cleanliness & repairs, stolen money from Traffic Department and the screw up of projected revenue for the budget.

The Skipper received a $10,000 salary increase when the City, DPW, took over the janitors according to BOA records. They have a person who is by civil service testing, a junior building custodian, working in the capacity of an Assistant Supervisor, who is the son of an Executive Board member of the Union, and contributor of the Mayor. Let's hold their feet to the fire and get accountability answers and results.

The School Committee thought it was a great idea when the Mayor wined and dinned them in getting the majority of their votes to assume the task of running the janitors years ago. New jobs for spouses, promises of this and that, in exchange, let Boss Hogg be "IN CONTROL" of the schools and their budget.

Sound familiar? The Mayor started with the control of the Schools, and the School Committee handed it to him in 2004 and then swiftly moved to the Police by taking the Chief of our Civil Service, he already had in the palm of his hand the DPW with Boss Hogg on the donkey. There is only one more mountain to conquer and that is the Fire Department. The Fire Deprtment will be next and the Mayor will have total control of every City agency within the 3 1/2 miles of its' borders.

[I just figured it out]

I finally figured out who Of Course is. After all this time. If his brother knew he was doing this.... there would be hell to pay.

[Rebecca]

I don't understand what the problem is with there not being curtains on the shower stalls?

When I attended grades 7-12 our girl's locker room had 100% out in the open communal showers, and showers were mandatory too. After the first couple of showers none of us girls were bothered by it.

I would think that even the girls of today would have the matturity to know that they need to shower after their gym classes, curtains or not!

[Mr Bubbles]

The joke is that Somerville High kids NEVER take showers. The basketball teams are out of the locker rooms 5 minutes after the games end, and they throw on clothes while still dripping from sweat. The shower in the boys locker room hasnt been used since the 80's.

[That's when they were white]

The reason they don't shower is because the foreigners hate to shower. PEEEEE EEEWWWWWW!!!

[Student Parent]

Being a parent of a High School student and recently attending an evening event at the Atrium, I find it appalling with the conditions of the restrooms. I could not get myself to utilize that restroom. It is dirty, smelly, lacks the proper sanitizing products and is just down right disgusting. The stalls have graffiti all over them.

The main foyer has broken tiles easily making one trip. The entrance outside is dark and dingy with the little light that is on. The outside of the facility may look up-beat with the planting of flowers and all, but the debris that is on the plaza and along the inside retaining wall by the parking lot is loathing. If the City cannot keep the areas clean and accessible for use, privatizing this function should be evaluated.

[Born Here]

Hey, maybe Boss Hogg can bring up the $500,000 sewer truck to help clean the locker rooms !! The "money pit" DPW yard is wasting all that money. That is why the schools are a mess.....get used to it !

[Caitlin]

I agree with the woman who said it's no biggie to shower in communal showers at school.

We all have the same parts as all of the other girls, so who cares?

If any girl chooses to not shower just because it's a communal shower room, then she really has a lot of growing up to do and not be so immature!

Caitlin, tenth grade student

[Jennifer Johnson]

Caitlin,

I'm happy to have read your comments! You are right about what you said, and it's great to see someone your age having such maturity.

I think that it is indeed easier for us girls to deal with being nude in a locker room and showering and changing in front of our peers.

I think in a completely innocent and obviously non-sexual way we girls feel a sense of bonding when changing and showering together in a girls or womens locker room? I think most of us females have a certain maturity that maybe the boys dont have that helps us to ralize that being nude in the locker room isn't a problem and that we would rather be showered and clean than to smell the rest of the school day.

[Terry]

Are there shower curtains in the boy's locker room? For years, boys have been treated unequally in privacy issues. They just trow them in an empty room to shower and change.
It's time to have equality in the locker rooms and bathrooms for that matter

[That Guy]

If the City had the guy who was the facility director about two years ago i think his name was BoB than these things would have been fixed when the work orders were put in but the fat guy from the DPw and the Co??head from cityhall had to FU** things up so you get what you asked for Suckers

[Mr Clean]

Somerville High kids havent showered after sports since the early 80's...get over it

[brickbottom]

Oh c'mon people. What's it going to cost to make both locker rooms more private for players to change in and to make it clean and functional! As a person involved in sports it is sobering to see the facilities of other schools compared to ours. Other cities gyms "visiting" locker rooms are better than our own "home" locker room.I bet Dilboy's new stadium has all the latest locker room updates and I don't have to tell you why. Yes, it is a new stadium but there is a word out there called "renovation" and our kids deserve to be treated with respect and dignity when it comes to school facilities. This city should be ashamed of itself for letting these area's fall into total disrepair.

Also, I don't blame some girls, or boys for that matter, to want to get dressed in private. With the way today's sexuality and the many different aspects of that you don't know who the hell you're undressing in front of.

[Mr Clean]

brick,
you answered the question. The football team is all set, they have a "coach" that has an "in" at city hall. The other sports are suffering with lousey facilities and equipment....now the kids know how the rest of the city feels !

[City Hall Nose]

New facility with the same old problems. That is what Dilboy Stadium represents.

Just about a month ago there were burst pipes is the stadium. When the rains came, there were still leaks under the stands. What difference does a new stadium mean when they have the same old problems as the old stadium had? The City hasn't owned up to the maintenance of the site either. DRC called them on the carpet already for lack of maintenance.

Who is in charge? Who is responsible? Who is accountable? It all points to three people, Boss Hog, RW; Director of Operations and the newly created position Jim H, former Ward 7 Alderman, past MIS Director and new Recreation Director. These are the people responsible.

What action will anyone do? NOTHING.

[Ronald Travis]

Accountability Matters

Hello! I am a facilities director and I have seen facilities that have been neglected as yours. It boils down to the accountability of the facilities or maintenance director. If action is not taken - I would seriously have a committee absolve this position and get a candidate who cares and is held accountable. If this person has been on board for any length of time, they should know their responsibilities and take care of this problem. By hanging on to this individual stems from management not doing their job in securing a candidate who is lazy or in turn they (management) should consider looking for a new position.

Good luck in your plight.

Sincerely,

Someone who would not put up with incompetence.