SHS locker rooms need attention, curtains

By Catherine Rogers

    Somerville High School students may have adjusted to the lack of privacy in their locker rooms and showers, but for School Committee Chair Charlene Harris the conditions are inexcusable.
    At  the Jan. 9 School Committee meeting, she spouted a series of concerns regarding long-ignored facilities at SHS, including a lack of shower and dressing room curtains, broken or missing seats in the changing areas and broken windows.

   ‚ÄúI had to harass someone to find tape and cardboard to cover a broken window,‚Äù she said.
Harris also noted a few dates as far back as June of 2005 when complaints were launched and work orders entered, but said she has seen no response.
    ‚ÄúI‚Äôm at an impasse. I can‚Äôt figure out what it takes for the DPW or someone from the facilities department to fix these things,‚Äù she said.
    Billine Jourdan, a SHS senior, can‚Äôt figure it out either. ‚ÄúHow come we can‚Äôt get some curtains?‚Äù she asked after finishing track practice.
    In the girls‚Äô locker room, privacy is scarce ‚Äì just seven of 30 changing stalls have curtains.
   ‚ÄúIt‚Äôs kind of an inconvenience, but you get used to it,‚Äù said Jourdan.
    Absent amenities like shower curtains and benches in changing areas don‚Äôt just affect the students at SHS, either. Over winter break, numerous visiting basketball teams utilized the rooms, and were shocked at the bare-bones facilities. Harris reported to the School Committee that the traveling teams said the locker rooms were ‚Äúdisgusting‚Äù and ‚Äúlooked like a jail.‚Äù
    Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone did not speak directly to the locker rooms, but made a guarded defense of the parties responsible for completing the work orders.
    He said custodians and facilities workers face broken windows and graffiti on a weekly basis and underscored the importance of documenting dates and times of specific complaints.
   ‚ÄúBefore accusations are made, I hope you have that information,‚Äù he said. ‚ÄúI think you better have your facts straight.‚Äù
    Other schools around the city also need attention, said Harris.
At the Arthur D. Healey School, a door buzzer was reported broken six weeks ago. In that time, she said, the door has been left open, creating an unnecessary security breach for students and workers – and it still isn’t fixed.
    ‚ÄúI‚Äôve tried every avenue I can think of,‚Äù she said.
    Not all school facilities issues go for weeks without resolution. On Jan. 9, when students at the Lincoln Park Community School arrived to an unheated building, the problem was fixed by noon, said Superintendent Anthony Pierantozzi.
Fortunately, the unseasonably warm weather eased the severity of the situation: had the temperature been lower, students would have had to move to the Winter Hill Community School, he said.
At the West Somerville Neighborhood School, a recent lack of hot water had students using hand sanitizer in the bathrooms and eating cold lunch in the cafeteria while the problem was fixed.
For now, students at SHS make do with the benches and curtains that exist. Jourdan said those who aren’t lucky enough to claim a coveted curtained stall just change quickly.
“And if you really feel uncomfortable, there’s always the bathroom,” she said.