All bathroom toilets in the Red and Orange pods in addition to the gym foyer were closed March 1-4 due to a pipe leak between the second and third floor. The bathrooms reopened at 11:43 a.m. after plumbers arrived to clean out the pipes and clear the blockage. According to an email sent by Interim High School Principal Jack Phillips March 5, the boys bathrooms in Top O and Bottom O are still closed and the girls’ bathroom in Top O will be for boys until further notice.
Facilities Manager Dean Evans said the leak had been fixed March 1 after school, but began malfunctioning again during the Global Festival March 3.
“It was an awkward situation to walk into on a Monday morning, but the maintenance and facilities team was very quick to react and are working very hard,” Evans said.
Phillips said he was initially confused about the closure of the toilets, as he thought that they were only closed during the Global Festival that took place over the weekend.
“At first I didn’t even know there was a leak,” Phillips said. “When I came to school during the weekend, I assumed that the bathrooms were closed to redirect people during the Global Festival.”
Phillips said he wanted to resolve the situation as fast as possible since having access to bathrooms is a requirement for the school.
“There is a specific ratio between the number of people in the building and toilets, and if a certain number are closed, we have to send everyone home for the day, so I was worried about that happening,” Phillips said.
Ellie Chung (’27) said she was unsure of which bathrooms she could go to throughout the day, which took time from her classes.
“It took longer for me to get to the bathroom from class, and I kept on going to bathrooms that were closed, which was really annoying and confusing,” Chung said.
Evans said it was fortunate that the school had several bathrooms community members could access when some were closed.
“We’re very lucky to have a total of 31 bathrooms throughout the entire school, and we have a series of systems, so even if one system shuts down we still have other options, which was a relief,” Evans said.
Evans said despite the situation being resolved and the bathrooms reopening, the pipes may have to be replaced to fix an ongoing problem.
“The contractor was able to clean the pipes this morning, but right after school we found out that the problem has returned and we may have to replace pipes,” Evans said.
According to Evans, the school wants to ensure that this situation does not reoccur, and is planning to replace the old pipework that serves the main tower of the waste pipe as soon as possible.
