Every classroom in World Journalism Preparatory School has at least one bathroom pass for students to take when they have to use the restroom, only allowing one student to take the pass at a time. However, how clean are these passes?

When students take bathroom passes, they may not think about the amount of germs that could be on them, or they may assume that they’re clean, or at the very least not that dirty.

WJPS ninth grader Arianna Taibi said, “They’ve been better. I think they’re pretty clean. I would say that I feel good that people can use them without spreading germs.”

Some students might not wash their hands after using the bathroom, others may accidentally drop them on the bathroom floors, or maybe even in the toilet if they’re not careful enough.

WJPS teacher Ms. Marks said, “I don’t think the bathroom passes are clean at all. They’re very unhygienic. You can’t guarantee that people are washing their hands. I would suggest they give us photocopies of a schoolwide pass so that everyone’s pass looks the same, and we just fill it out.”

School staff should make sure that these passes are clean, because not only are students meant to put their hands on them, but a few students also like to jokingly poke one another with it.

To address this, school custodians should make sure to clean the bathroom passes in each classroom with a wet wipe at the end of each school day, to ensure that students don’t come into contact with bacteria from bathrooms or other places, keeping the school clean and hygienic.