Granite School District shares new high school bathroom designs to combat vandalism, bullying

SALT LAKE CITY — After seeing increased vandalism fueled by social media trends, the Granite School District has redesigned bathrooms at two of its new high schools to allow for “greater safety and supervision,” according to an announcement on its website.

“These challenges have resulted in one school recently spending nearly $50,000 in toilet damage repairs. These include breaking mirrors, stealing soap dispensers, clogging toilets with toilet paper, and we've even attempted to remove wall urinals,” the release says.

According to a 2024 report detailing school discipline and law enforcement data, many problems in schools have increased in the post-Covid years, including incidents such as harassment, bullying, assault and disruption.

School officials say they have “observed a disturbing trend where many students do not feel safe or comfortable using traditional enclosed restroom facilities while at school for fear of cyber-bullying and harassment,” the release said, and that “schools are understaffed. Always monitor each restroom.” .”

Despite the ban, cellphones are partly to blame, the district says. “We are still seeing many instances where students have been filmed using the restroom and that content has been posted on social media,” according to the release. Results – Students are leaving campus and going home to use the bathroom.

In Granite's new construction projects — the new Cypress and Skyline high school campuses — officials say they will use designs that “many new school buildings across the state and country … are using to improve safety for students.”

The restrooms, small individual rooms with floor-to-ceiling doors and walls, will connect to a shared hand-washing area that is “entirely open to the hallway,” the announcement says.

There will still be traditional restrooms on the same floors, but school officials hope the new designs will “curb problems like fumes and irritation, which unfortunately often occur in traditional enclosed restrooms,” the release said.

The district's elementary schools have had similar hand-washing stations for more than two decades, according to the post, “for similar oversight reasons.”