Shortly after San Diego schools kicked off the new year in September, 21,000 students at 11 campuses were locked in classrooms for up to three hours following a rash of violent — and ultimately false — threats.
Not surprisingly, some students had to use a bathroom.
Patrick Henry High School was among those to provide students with security escorts to restrooms, which critics later called dangerous. Some Grossmont High School classrooms made due with trash cans in adjoining rooms during a five-hour lock-down in February, upsetting parents who raised concerns about hygiene.
In a sign of the times, schools locally and nationwide are stocking up on emergency bathroom provisions to make increasingly frequent classroom lockdowns safer and more comfortable for students and educators.
The San Diego Unified School District is preparing to purchase toilet kits for every classroom that needs one at a cost of $180,000 to $200,000. Grossmont Union High School District has also purchased the kits for classrooms at about $30 each.
“School lockdowns are difficult and stressful times and the ability to use a restroom, even in the form of the emergency kit, is something we believe will help students and staff through the situation,” said Drew Rowlands, San Diego Unified’s chief operations officer.
The kits are being purchased from SOS Survival Products, a company based in Van Nuys, and include basic accommodations: A 5-gallon bucket with a toilet seat, a roll of toilet paper roll, 100 wet wipes, 25 waste bags, a roll of duct tape and a 5-by-7-foot tarp, ten pair of vinyl gloves, and a 4 1/2-pound bag of cat litter. A $59 upgrade will replace the tarp with a tall and narrow pop-up tent for increased privacy.
San Diego Unified has ordered a few kits as samples before it makes its final purchase. Rowlands expects to distribute the emergency toilets to schools and offices in about a month.
“We haven’t worked out all the instructions for use — the kits themselves are pretty self-explanatory, and the kits are really intend to be a last resort,” he said.
Not every classroom will need the emergency supplies because some have attached restrooms, or because their school has already purchased similar products.
“We certainly hope the times we encounter a lockdown are infrequent, and they are of a short duration,” Rowlands said. “But ultimately if the kits can provide a small amount of comfort for our students, it is something we want to do.”
With help from the campus’s parent-run nonprofit foundation, Brad Callahan, principal of Lewis Middle School in Allied Gardens, assembled emergency toilet kits for all classrooms last year following a roughly 90-minute lockdown in February.
“It was the first prolonged lockdown this campus had experienced,” said Callahan, who encouraged the district to follow Lewis’s lead and equip all schools with similar kits. “I heard from parents, and we decided this is something we wanted to do for our students and staff.”
Jeff Edlestein, who owns SOS Survival, said schools have been buying his products for more than 20 years. Orders increased after the 1999 Columbine High School shooting that left 13 dead and 21 wounded at the hands of two teenage shooters, who then committed suicide. Business has steadily increased with the frequency of lockdowns and school shootings, and since July orders have more than doubled over previous years, he said.
“I think it’s the frequency of the lockdowns because kids are stuck in classrooms for a couple of hours so they need to have supplies. Plus, there’s been talk about the possibility of a major earthquake hitting Southern California, plus El Nino,” he said. “Business has been crazy.”
Edlestein has customized his school survival kits up to 400 different ways to meet the needs or concerns of a particular district.
He said the website is intentionally subtle because “We don’t want to exploit the issue.”
The Los Angeles Unified School District also has purchased emergency toilets.
The Sweetwater Union High School District has not purchased such kits, according to spokesman Manny Rubio. He said the district has made recommendations to schools about what classrooms should have in case of emergency.
“It’s pretty much the basics: water, a bucket, TP, snacks, flashlights, batteries,” he said in an email. “In our trainings we’ve also let people know that in case of a longer lockdown that a space in the classroom be designated for privacy.”
San Diego Unified, California’s second-largest district, has also purchased “Lock-Bloks” for classroom and office doors. Invented by a former educator, the devices, which attach to the inside of a classroom door, include a sliding bar that prevents a locked door from slamming shut. In the event of an emergency, a teacher can quickly slide the bar to engage the lock without fumbling for keys.
Some teachers keep water, snacks and medical supplies on hand in the event of a long lockdown. Since most middle and high schools have eliminated lockers, students who pack a lunch usually have it with them in a backpack.