We, the students at Jack E. Singley Academy, are petitioning for the immediate reopening of all restrooms on campus. Since August 2024, Principal Brandi Johnson has closed half of the school's restrooms, with promises to reopen them never being fulfilled. The rare exceptions when these restrooms are open are during testing.

Currently, there are only three restrooms available for over 1,600 students, which is not enough. Consequences include long restroom lines in the beginning of class as students avoid tardies and long restroom lines during five minute passing periods. Attempts to address these issues have through direct conversations and emails have been ignored or met with dismissive responses such as "drug use," "vandalism," and a lack of staff to monitor the restrooms. The actions of 5% do not mean that 100% of students should be punished.

Students in the AVID hall, culinary, PE, robotics, and theater classes, are forced to walk for two minutes just to get to the nearest open restroom when if we unlocked the other restrooms, would be reduced to less than a minute.

Additionally, restrooms are sometimes closed for "drug cleanings," which apparently take a whole day. Multiple times I was on the second floor, and when I went to use the restroom, it was locked. Even when the day ended, they were still locked. If Mrs. Johnson is going to do this, she should at least unlock the other restrooms, or at least temporarily while the other restroom on the floor is locked. Because teachers and other staff members are not warned about the restrooms being locked, students are often yelled at for going to another floor to use the other restrooms.

The lack of communication is concerning. It wasn't until I directly spoke to Mrs. Johnson that I learned about the reason for the restroom closures being as a result of drug use. Still, the fact that I had to speak to her rather than her announcing her decisions to students and teachers is unacceptable. A good leader should be open and transparent to policies, not leave students in the dark.

We believe that students at Jack E. Singley Academy deserve better. The current policies fail to consider the needs and input of the student body. We are regularly left out of discussions and decisions that affect our daily lives. This petition is a call for action and for our voices to be heard.

If the school continues to ignore the voices of students, we encourage parents and community members to raise their concerns with the school through phone calls and emails.

Thank you for your support.