Teh One Who Knocks
03-14-2011, 03:09 PM
KRISTI ALBERTSON/Daily Inter Lake
When several attempts to deter graffiti artists in the girls’ restroom at Marion School failed, the principal tried a new tactic: removing the stall doors.
The strategy has seemed to work; the bathroom has been graffiti-free for two weeks. But some parents say the move violated their children’s right to privacy.
Removing the stall doors wasn’t Principal Justin Barnes’ first attempt to dissuade the vandals.
Students were required to take a buddy to the bathroom so no one was in there alone. Teachers checked the restroom every 15 minutes. Students were asked about possible offenders, and children whose names cropped up more than once were questioned.
Weeks went by. Despite the school’s efforts, profane words continued to appear, carved into the bathroom stall.
The carvings were so deep that merely painting over them couldn’t completely hide them, Barnes said. The school likely will have to sandblast the stalls over the summer to get rid of the etchings.
Finally, after other efforts to stop the graffiti proved fruitless, Barnes tried a new tactic.
“I went to every class but the kindergartners, because what was written was not written by kindergartners,” Barnes said at a crowded school board meeting Wednesday night. “I told them there would be consequences.”
Those consequences involved removing the doors from all but one stall in the restroom if the graffiti continued.
It did.
“I thought someone would call my bluff,” Barnes said.
Because graffiti also had appeared in the boys’ restroom, all but one stall in that facility lost its doors as well. Barnes told students that if they could go one week without vandalizing the bathroom, the doors would be returned.
The doors were put back Monday, two weeks after they had been taken down.
Despite that, several outraged parents and community members spoke Wednesday during the board meeting’s public comment period.
Trina Huffman called the “extreme measure to combat graffiti unacceptable.” Removing the doors was a “gross infringement of children’s rights,” she added.
As evidence, she cited Article II, Section 10 of the Montana Constitution, which says, “The right of individual privacy is essential to the well-being of a free society and shall not be infringed without the showing of a compelling state interest.”
Huffman also cited Article II, Section 15 of the state Constitution, which says children are entitled to the same rights as adults.
Tim Baldwin, an attorney and son of former Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin, also spoke about students’ rights. He said he was at the meeting not because anyone had hired him but because he was concerned about the message removing the stall doors had conveyed to children.
Especially because schools are run by the government, school officials “should be thinking about the constitutional rights of everybody,” he said. Otherwise, “children learn that the Constitution really doesn’t matter.”
Baldwin also said the school should have contacted parents before taking action.
Barnes said he had announced the threat to remove the stall doors at a school awards assembly, at which some parents were present. But he acknowledged he could have done more to alert families.
“In hindsight, I wish I would have sent a letter. I do take that blame,” he said.
Huffman said children weren’t the only people affected when the stall doors were removed. The Marion branch of the Flathead County Library is housed in the school, and community members often use the restroom there.
Huffman gave the trustees a letter, which she did not read aloud, from a library-goer who had been “very embarrassed to have to use a restroom with no door.”
One community member suggested putting a whiteboard in the restroom to give students an acceptable space to write on. Another person at the meeting wondered whether the doors would be removed again if students once again start carving profanity in the stalls.
Yes, the school will remove the doors if the graffiti returns, Barnes told the Inter Lake on Thursday.
“We don’t have the time, money or resources to have everybody in there sandpapering every day,” he said.
“We’ve checked into every legal aspect of it. It’s not against the law. By doing this, we sent a message to the kids. We haven’t had any graffiti for over two weeks now.”
Barnes said Wednesday he did not regret the decision to remove the doors. Other schools have used the punishment, including high schools in Tennessee and Pennsylvania.
When several attempts to deter graffiti artists in the girls’ restroom at Marion School failed, the principal tried a new tactic: removing the stall doors.
The strategy has seemed to work; the bathroom has been graffiti-free for two weeks. But some parents say the move violated their children’s right to privacy.
Removing the stall doors wasn’t Principal Justin Barnes’ first attempt to dissuade the vandals.
Students were required to take a buddy to the bathroom so no one was in there alone. Teachers checked the restroom every 15 minutes. Students were asked about possible offenders, and children whose names cropped up more than once were questioned.
Weeks went by. Despite the school’s efforts, profane words continued to appear, carved into the bathroom stall.
The carvings were so deep that merely painting over them couldn’t completely hide them, Barnes said. The school likely will have to sandblast the stalls over the summer to get rid of the etchings.
Finally, after other efforts to stop the graffiti proved fruitless, Barnes tried a new tactic.
“I went to every class but the kindergartners, because what was written was not written by kindergartners,” Barnes said at a crowded school board meeting Wednesday night. “I told them there would be consequences.”
Those consequences involved removing the doors from all but one stall in the restroom if the graffiti continued.
It did.
“I thought someone would call my bluff,” Barnes said.
Because graffiti also had appeared in the boys’ restroom, all but one stall in that facility lost its doors as well. Barnes told students that if they could go one week without vandalizing the bathroom, the doors would be returned.
The doors were put back Monday, two weeks after they had been taken down.
Despite that, several outraged parents and community members spoke Wednesday during the board meeting’s public comment period.
Trina Huffman called the “extreme measure to combat graffiti unacceptable.” Removing the doors was a “gross infringement of children’s rights,” she added.
As evidence, she cited Article II, Section 10 of the Montana Constitution, which says, “The right of individual privacy is essential to the well-being of a free society and shall not be infringed without the showing of a compelling state interest.”
Huffman also cited Article II, Section 15 of the state Constitution, which says children are entitled to the same rights as adults.
Tim Baldwin, an attorney and son of former Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin, also spoke about students’ rights. He said he was at the meeting not because anyone had hired him but because he was concerned about the message removing the stall doors had conveyed to children.
Especially because schools are run by the government, school officials “should be thinking about the constitutional rights of everybody,” he said. Otherwise, “children learn that the Constitution really doesn’t matter.”
Baldwin also said the school should have contacted parents before taking action.
Barnes said he had announced the threat to remove the stall doors at a school awards assembly, at which some parents were present. But he acknowledged he could have done more to alert families.
“In hindsight, I wish I would have sent a letter. I do take that blame,” he said.
Huffman said children weren’t the only people affected when the stall doors were removed. The Marion branch of the Flathead County Library is housed in the school, and community members often use the restroom there.
Huffman gave the trustees a letter, which she did not read aloud, from a library-goer who had been “very embarrassed to have to use a restroom with no door.”
One community member suggested putting a whiteboard in the restroom to give students an acceptable space to write on. Another person at the meeting wondered whether the doors would be removed again if students once again start carving profanity in the stalls.
Yes, the school will remove the doors if the graffiti returns, Barnes told the Inter Lake on Thursday.
“We don’t have the time, money or resources to have everybody in there sandpapering every day,” he said.
“We’ve checked into every legal aspect of it. It’s not against the law. By doing this, we sent a message to the kids. We haven’t had any graffiti for over two weeks now.”
Barnes said Wednesday he did not regret the decision to remove the doors. Other schools have used the punishment, including high schools in Tennessee and Pennsylvania.