School Restrooms Receive Failing Grade

Schools that reopened their facilities to students this fall have implemented cleaning protocols to help protect students from the coronavirus and other infectious pathogens. However, students are still concerned about school cleanliness. A survey of high school students conducted by Bradley Corp. found the students were most concerned about contacting coronavirus or other germs in their school’s restroom.

Bradley conducted the Healthy Handwashing Survey^™ back-to-school edition to understand the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on school restroom perceptions and handwashing behavior. The results showed that 50% of high schoolers rated their restrooms as fair or poor. Additionally, 42% of high schoolers believe that unclean restrooms reflect poorly on school management.

The survey also found:

• 18% of respondents view school restrooms as excellent or very good
• 41% think school management cannot do anything about restroom cleanliness
• 33% said messy restrooms lower their perception of the school overall.

The surveyed high schoolers believe it is important that schools keep restrooms stocked with soap, paper towels, and toilet paper. Most of them (76%) believe school restrooms should have touchless features such as faucets and soap dispensers.

Regarding handwashing behavior, the survey found:

• 94% of respondents believe it is important to wash their hands to protect against COVID-19
• 62% wash their hands more frequently with 55% doing it more than six times per day
• 48% of high schoolers are concerned they won’t have enough time to wash their hands at school.