High school locks washrooms to prevent students from vaping during class

High school locks students out of washrooms Students at Seycove Secondary in North Vancouver are angry at administrators for locking them out of most of the school's bathrooms.

A high school in North Vancouver, B.C. is locking the doors of the majority of its washrooms to prevent students from vaping during class time.

In a recent email to the parents of teenagers attending Seycove Secondary School, the administration said that some groups of students were using e-cigarettes in the school’s washrooms, locker rooms, and sometimes, even in the classrooms.

The bulletin said students were coordinating, via text messages, to meet each other in the washrooms to vape together during class.

“There is increased hallway traffic during classes and a generally ‘casual’ response from students when [they] are asked to return to class,” the notice read.

To address the issue, the school said it would be locking the washroom doors of four of the school’s six student washrooms.

Starting Monday, only one washroom located near the gymnasium and another gender-neutral washroom located by the office will be available for the school’s 529 students to share. The two open washrooms will also be closely monitored by staff, according to the administration.

“I don’t think it’s like fair, honestly,” one student told CTV Vancouver on Monday.

“You’re punishing the whole school for something, like, only a few kids are doing,” another student added. “It’s kind of unnecessary.”

Deneka Michaud, a spokesperson for the North Vancouver School District, said the school has put up signs on the doors of the closed washrooms explaining they’ve been locked because of “inappropriate use.”

“This is a health and safety concern and as a school we need to stop it,” she said.

Although some students are calling the measure “extreme,” the school district said the washrooms will only be closed temporarily.

“Hopefully this can just bring attention to the issue and be resolved quickly and then the school can begin to operate as it usually does,” Michaud said.

With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Shannon Paterson