New for the 2023-24 school year, two renovated bathrooms with fresh, modern finishes have been unveiled. Both the boys (upstairs) and girls (downstairs) bathrooms located at the west end of the main hallway were refurbished.
They feature four updated stalls, a new contemporary sink, bright lighting and a white/gray color scheme to match the newer bathrooms in the 2019 pool addition.
According to Mr. Chris Stancil, director of buildings and grounds, the main reasons for the renovation were mechanical issues and an unpleasant smell from the sewer system affecting nearby classrooms.
“We’ve had some sewage smell issues down on that side of the building for the last year, year and a half and we have done everything [to fix the problem],” said Mr. Stancil. “These bathrooms were quite old and the only way to actually fix the [disturbing smell] was to literally gut everything.”

The new bathroom also had to be accessible to meet the guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Because of this, there was a floorplan change to make it easier for wheelchair users to use the facilities. In both bathrooms, stalls moved from the west end to the east end and the sinks moved onto the south wall along with a wider entrance and taller partition to block the view from the hallway.
“Anytime you touch anything in this day and age, you have to incorporate ADA standards,” Mr. Stancil said. ”That was the driving force, specifically on the layout.”
Privacy was also a high priority with these new bathrooms. The updated stalls include color-coded locks as well as larger divisions between each one.

“It’s definitely much more comfortable,” junior John Nevill said. “You can relax much more.”
However, one thing that is missing from the male bathroom is urinals. Previously, the bathroom included several urinals on the opposite wall from the stalls. Now, the wall is bare.

“The fact that there are no urinals in that one definitely slows down the process [because fewer people can use the room at the same time, such as passing periods],” sophomore Timothy Courneya explained. “If they were to renovate future bathrooms, you’d want there to be urinals.”
According to Mr. Mark Koopman, D128 building and grounds director, urinals were excluded from the male bathroom because they were “conceptually designed to be ADA compliant all-gender multiple-occupancy restrooms thus providing flexibility to be designated for that use in the future.”
Additionally, senior Carli Bance misses the distinctively pink aesthetic in the female bathroom.
“I personally think the pink bathroom is superior. I think it was better.”
Looking forward, the end goal will be to eventually renovate the rest of the bathrooms to a similar design.
“We have a total of 62 bathrooms, which includes locker rooms. Some of them are quite old,” Mr. Stancil said. “So we really are focusing on trying to renovate as much as we possibly can.”
Another notable renovation seen all around the building were the new water fountains, with most including an automatic bottle filler.
This change has been very well received as the water fountains are now consistent throughout the school as opposed to before, when they were all of varying style and quality.
“It’s less of a fight to see which water fountain is actually best,” Nevill said.