By Eloisa Perez, Makhia Burley, and Breonia Holley

At Patterson High School, the conditions of the bathrooms are poor. The Patterson Press launched an investigation to figure out why.

Some of problems that have been identified by students and staff are lack of supplies, broken toilets and sinks, trash on the floor, and students locked out when they need to use the bathroom.

History teacher Mr. Ted Smith said he tries to avoid the bathrooms because they are dirty and smell really bad. “I try not to use them ever again. Sometimes I have to use them but I try to avoid it I say maybe a couple times a week but I try to avoid it”, Mr. Smith said.

Coach Brian R. Miles Sr. suggested, “They can use more scented things in the bathrooms like air freshener” so the bathroom will have a good aroma.

Most students resist going to the bathrooms because they are dirty and smell really bad. They also say when they go to the bathrooms there are no supplies that they need such as soap, paper towels, toilet paper, etc. Kaija Johnson is a student in Patterson High and she said, “They are dirty and they need to clean them a little bit more”. Johnson said the girls need to stop putting their pads in the toilets because that’s a problem in the girls bathroom. Some girls put their pads in the toilets because their are no disposal bins in stalls. Some students and teachers also expressed that it would be good to have vending machines for pads and other feminine hygiene products in the girls’ and women’s bathrooms.

On March 12, we gave a survey about the bathrooms to 50 students in both A and B lunch periods. One of the questions was about what supplies are usually missing when students use the bathroom. 60% of the students said that there is no soap, paper towels, or toilet paper when they go use the bathrooms. Mr. Robert Jones is one of the janitors at Patterson High and when we asked why is there no supplies in the bathrooms he said, “because they take the toilet paper and the soap and snatch it off the wall”. Mr. Jones is saying that the students take the supplies from the bathrooms and that is why there are no supplies in the bathrooms.

Some teachers are trying to change the way the bathrooms look like by painting the main doors as a woman cartoon or a man cartoon for the girls and boys and also painting the stalls a different color. Nancy Holter, one of the art teachers at Patterson, is painting the bathrooms with her class.

“I wanted to make the bathrooms cute and to make it look positive for the students”, said Ms. Holter, because she thought the school looked bleak and she wanted to change that. Ms. Holter and her students have painted the main doors for the bathrooms and now are moving to painting the stalls.

“I want to bring in soap and like lotion for the girls bathrooms because we need to be treated like human beings… People in prison have more supplies than us”, she said. Ms. Holter wants to see more change then just the color of the bathrooms.

In conclusion, the Patterson Press found out that the Patterson bathrooms are mostly dirty because of the students. At least that’s what the janitors are saying. We also found out that the bathrooms are not in good condition because “the school is old and it’s worn down”, as Principal Vance Benton put it. Mr. Benton explained that the school district is not going to spend a lot of money on fixing pipes and other facilities because construction for the school new is going to start in June.

By Brionica Jackson

Why are students not doing so well in school? Why is it that Senior year is the year that students’ GPA tends to drop? Why is it that some students struggle with more behavioral issues than other students?

One reason is depression.

I conducted a survey for students at Patterson High School, and it turned out that out of the four different grades, Seniors are the ones who are facing depression the most. Based on this short survey, 53% of the students are stressed due to family issues. Things that are going on at home are causing the students to be upset.

Most issues that students develop come from how the students were brought up and how their living situations are in the home. The things that happen at home are what is causing kids to act out. When it continues or the problem expands, students began to feel numb to the feeling of loneliness. They start to feel nothing and that causes them to become depressed. When that happens, they begin to lose interest in things. Stress and pressure leads students into a depressed state of mind.

Seniors are going through more stress and pressure as they worry about meeting graduation requirements, getting into college, and preparing for the transition to adult life. That is one of the main reasons why seniors tend to be more likely to become depressed than the lower grades.

If you are feeling depressed or stressed out, see the school psychologist, Ms. Gaither, in the Media Center or other staff members for support.

RETRACTION: In the article, “Students show off professional skills at conference”, which ran on the front page of the January 2019 print edition of the Patterson Press, Jill Biden was incorrectly referred to as the “former First Lady of the Obama administration”. The correct title for Mrs. Biden is “Second Lady”, as she is the wife of former Vice President Joe Biden. The former First Lady is Michelle Obama, who was not present at the Great Schools conference.

This error was NOT made by the students who wrote the article. The authors correctly used the title “Second Lady” and it was erroneously changed to “First Lady” during the editing process. The Patterson Press takes full responsibility for this error and sincerely apologizes to its readers and the authors of the article. This retraction will also appear in the May 2019 print edition of the Patterson Press.

Black Lives Matter (Dasia Whitfield)

Immigrant Stories (Essence Talley)

Pedestrian Safety at School (John Dingzon)

Soccer Without Borders (Asende Baele)

The Arts at Patterson (Moses Jeuronlon)