The vandalism at NCHS is  out of control. Within the past couple weeks students have been leaving full milk cartons in the bathrooms to spoil, the drinking fountain has been torn off the walls twice and there are carvings in the stalls along with writings in sharpie. Most of these things happen in the bathrooms and it occurs more in the boys bathroom, with some occurring in the girls as well. There is also an increased amount of trash thrown on the floors and under tables, gum under desks, and temporary ID stickers pasted to all kinds of different surfaces, including over elevator buttons. The school has to pay for damages and the custodians are left to pick up after students. It’s common courtesy to take care of yourself, respect the environment you inhabit and show courtesy to others. You may not want to be here but you’re just making things harder for others.

     NCHS community (students and staff) are lucky to have a building worth millions to house its over 1800 students and 200 staff. It is a state of the art facility and destroying it is costing taxpayers dollars to fix these things. It’s like the vandals are forcing their parents to pay for their destructive behavior through their tax dollars. Vandalism costs us all in the long run. When the water fountains and sinks are torn from the wall, the water has to be shut off and restrooms closed down. It’s inconvenient to everyone and certainly unnecessary. I’m curious as to how and why the water fountain by the bathroom in the commons has been broken twice in the past month. That’s here for the students and  by breaking it and having to get it fixed affects many students and staff that have to fix it. This is something I believe is incredibly uncalled for. The bathrooms had to be blocked off which affected many people.

      Leaving trays and trash and milk cartons isn’t always considered vandalism but it’s still just as rude. You should be able to pick up after yourself, after all, this is a high school and you should have learned that by now. If it were one person, it would be a small inconvenience, but it is many who are too unmotivated to walk to a trash can to deposit their garbage. Then, others in the building have to clean it up to make the environment safe and healthy. The custodial and cafeteria staff are NOT your personal maids to clean up after poor habits. It adds to their workload, it’s rude and privileges have already been revoked for poor behavior.

The writing in the stalls isn’t something new, that’s always been something that happens, but it doesn’t make it right. It’s very hard to get off, and sometimes they say things about other students. Something else along these lines is the temporary ids that get stuck to the tables, floors, and walls. These are incredibly hard to get off and take a lot of time to remove. The residue also stays for awhile.

I  don’t see the point in why students think these things are okay, and I hope these things will change. Some things have begun to be taken care of but others can’t be changed. We can’t always know who is doing what. It would be greatly appreciated if students could think more about what they’re doing before doing these things.

If you have any information on the vandalism occurring in the school, please share that information in the main office. A reward is being offered.