Posted on: Tuesday, June 8, 2004

EDITORIAL
Clean, safe restrooms are no small matter

There is a theory of civic renewal associated with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani that goes like this:

If you start with the small stuff — graffiti, turnstyle jumping in the subway, broken windows on public facilities — the big stuff will follow in turn.

When the public recognizes that the small things are going better, it will be more likely to cooperate on bigger issues such as crime, urban decay and the like.

While not everyone agrees that this theory is universally applicable, it has shown its power in more than one instance.

And it is a theory that might make sense here in Hawai'i, today, in dealing with the declining physical quality of our public schools.

We have long advocated for a "Marshall Plan" approach to the huge backlog of repair and maintenance work. Our children deserve no less than a complete rebuilding of our school infrastructure much as America rebuilt Europe after World War II.

That still strikes us as the right approach, but we have to begin somewhere.

A good place to start would be with public school restrooms.

As reported by Education Writer Derrick DePledge, many of our public school facilities are in deplorable shape. While only five schools received unacceptable sanitation ratings in the most recent survey, that is hardly a reason to crow.

In school after school, students report broken facilities, stalls without doors or paper supplies, foul odors and the like.

This is no mere matter of aesthetics; children are afraid or reluctant to use the bathroom facilities at all during the school day.

Why not take the "start small" approach by guaranteeing, at a minimum, that every school restroom is clean, well-stocked and comfortable?

It is true that students themselves bear some of the responsibility for the poor conditions. When one student trashes the place, the next is less likely to take proper care.

But human nature works both ways. If the restrooms are clean and well-maintained, there will be greater reluctance to leave a mess behind.

It might seem that restroom cleanliness pales behind other needs of our schools, such as an adequate supply of textbooks and enough electricity and wiring to provide full computer access.

But we have to start somewhere. There is no reason our students must endure restroom facilities no adult would tolerate.