Recently an irrigation pipe carrying fresh water burst in the 200s and bathrooms and water have been offline in certain places on campus. This has been a persistent problem in that corner since the founding of CSArts. The problem has worsened with TikTok trends like flushing tampons and vandalizing bathrooms. Classes like painting, visual arts, or ceramics class also use materials that cause pipes to clog.
Gender neutral restrooms have also been affected throughout the year. Students also have complained about issues with trouble refilling reusable water bottles when bathrooms or pipes are offline meaning they have to walk across campus to refill their water bottles, unaware of the orange jugs containing fresh water around campus. Clay and paint from ceramics or art classes have nothing to do with the plumbing problems because our custodial staff regularly cleans those areas. The main reason for clogging is paper towels and menstrual products in the toilets.
“If students are caught intentionally clogging the toilets, we can suspend them for property damage,” said Principal of Academics Nicole Read. “We can even charge them the plumbing costs associated with clean up and labor, which could range from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars.”
The costs of plumbing comes out of CSArts budget and can take away from the expenses for classroom supplies, paper for the copiers, and more. “It takes away from our ability to save for larger facility projects as well such as additional science lab space, additional bathrooms, and offices,” Read said. If the plumbing challenges are due to the old pipes, however, they share their cost with Duarte School Unified District (DUSD) and their plumbers help to work on the issue for our school.
AAPI Month