Toilets – An Update

Background

Children have complained that the toilets are dirty, have water/tissue on the floors and that they can feel scared to go in them. There have been some cases of vandalism within the toilets.

The toilets are cleaned by the Facilities Management department of the City of Edinburgh Council. The school itself has no remit for managing the cleaning of the toilets. Currently there are cleaners who visit the school outside school hours to clean the toilets. Mr Friend has repeatedly asked for additional cleaning but it has been refused on the grounds that there is no budget to pay for additional cleaners.

In the past there have been ‘ranger cleaners’ appointed for a period of time, who add an extra couple of hours of cleaning. They are not currently in place.

Current Situation

Somewhat of a stalemate. Mr Friend is forwarding letters of complaint to the Facilities Management department but the response is the same – no budget.

Mr Friend suggested adjusting the working hours of the cleaners so there was no impact on the budget but an impact on the cleaning of the toilets during the day.  The FM dept has responded to say this is not possible.

Some parents complained directly to the City of Edinburgh Council who doesn’t manage the situation directly so they passed the complaints onto Mr Friend and the Facilities Management department. Although not the recommended route, this may have raised higher level awareness of the issue.

The isolated instances of vandalism have been dealt with.

What Can You Do?

Speak to your child about the toilets. Ultimately it’s our children that are making the mess and then dealing with messy toilets. It’s hard for anyone to treat a public bathroom the same as their home bathroom, but having discussions about it with our children could help.

If the toilet situation is causing your child a problem you can also write a letter of complaint to Mr Friend who can forward it onto the council. The more complaints the school gets, the stronger the case for hiring more cleaners.