LIKE A WAR ZONE

From vaping to vandalism, many students fear to enter their school's washrooms

- JANET HURLEY

Jaden Braves is a Western Tech student who in June 2023 made a video about trying to access the school washrooms, all of which were closed due to vandalism. His video got seven million views.

A couple of weeks into September, Dara was driving her son home from his new middle school, happy he seemed to be settling into Grade 7, when the 13-year-old made a startling confession: He was petrified of using the school washroom.

“There are bullies in there; there are kids vaping,” the Mississauga mom recalls him telling her in the car last fall. The teen had already witnessed several fights. He described damaged toilets and sinks, deliberately clogged and overflowing.

Dara, whose real name the Star is not using to protect the identity of her son, contacted the school, which acknowledged ongoing problems and suggested the boy use the single all-gender toilet near an office. Dara was frustrated by the proposed solution. She wondered how, in a school of 500 students, could everyone who was afraid use just one stall?

Her son opted for the single washroom when time and circumstances allowed, but sometimes had to use the larger boys’ room. He would listen at the outside door before entering. He wasn’t targeted, says Dara, but he felt the need “to stay invisible.” He allied himself with friends who were bigger and taller — kids that other kids “wouldn’t mess with.”

“I have a 13-year-old who has to be on alert like he’s in a war zone when he has to go to the bathroom,” says Dara incredulously. “How ridiculous is that?”

As the school year begins this week, the list of worries for students is long, from meeting teachers to making new friends. But the expectation is they are entering a safe place to learn.