'Bathroom Man' teaches students responsibility

AVONDALE ESTATES, Ga. -- In some school bathrooms, Tom Keating discovered it was easier to find the toilet paper hanging from the ceiling than the roll. In others, the toilets were chronically backed up, obscenities were scrawled on the walls and cigarette butts littered the sinks.

Everywhere he went, students told Keating they would rather wait all day than use filthy school restrooms.

That's when he found his calling as "Bathroom Man." He and his group, called Project CLEAN, get students to take on bathroom cleaning duty, learn responsibility and make school bathrooms a little less frightening.

"If you're here in a public place, you've got to learn some common responsibility. You don't pee on the floor -- someone needs to teach the kids that," Keating said while walking through Avondale High School outside Atlanta, his latest project.

Cleaning duties such as scrubbing toilets and taking out the trash are usually handled by custodians. Keating, a former teacher, wants students to clean after themselves and help decorate bathrooms.

At Avondale, the transformation was obvious. Students gave the women's bathroom a fresh coat of red paint, hung paintings and draped ribbons across the ceiling. Brightly colored flowers sat in fixtures on the walls. Obscene graffiti has vanished from stall doors, and the restrooms almost smell pleasant.

At most schools, the changes are subtle. The signs above doors are changed from "Girls" and "Boys" to "Women" and "Men." Newly installed soap dispensers are curved around the edges so it's impossible to balance cigarette butts. Men's bathroom stalls now have doors, and heavy-duty toilet paper dispensers keep the paper stocked and prevent vandalism.

Keating cites studies showing as many as four out of 10 students avoid their school restrooms. While it is difficult to draw a direct link between clean bathrooms and academic achievement, Keating said students will pay closer attention in class if they aren't distracted.

Attitudes improved

Avondale principal Tim Freeman said students' attitudes have noticeably improved since the school began working with Project CLEAN, which stands for Citizens, Learners and Educators Against Neglect.

Keating hopes his clean-bathroom quest catches on beyond the several school systems he's contracted with so far.

Keating approaches school districts and asks if they want help. He inspects bathrooms, then draws up ideas and tries to mobilize students and parents. Keating is paid out of school and government budgets, typically a few thousand dollars per school.

"Anytime I'm in the bathroom and I see trash on the floor, I pick it up and throw it in the trash can," said Allesta Brewley, a junior. "We thought it was going to be a lot of hard work, but we made it fun."