Mice, mold, dirt, and soap scum are just a few of my favorite things that JC has to offer.

In the past couple of months, students have reported two mice sightings. The first was in the Patriot Café on Oct. 25, the second on Nov. 1 in the art wing.

This sanitation deficiency is completely unacceptable. Students and their families pay $14,250 for tuition and a clean school should be included in that price. When asked how the school is handling the rodent issues, Director of Facilities Stewart Walker said that the school has a contract with a pest control company that comes every month as needed.

“Regardless of what we do, [JC] is a big place with food. [Mice] are naturally drawn here,” Walker said.

Students are not the only ones affected by JC’s lack of cleanliness. An anonymous teacher has complained that when he/she opens their ceiling tiles to fix a wire or cable, mice and or rat droppings fall. Teachers shouldn’t have to suffer in such poor working conditions.

However, the classrooms aren’t the only places that aren’t up to par on hygiene. The locker rooms are atrocious, especially the women’s shower room. The drains are covered in soap scum, the few shower curtains are dry-rotted, the paint on the ceiling is peeling and falling all over the floor, and the walls have mold on them. Refer to the gallery to view photos taken Nov. 9 of the women’s locker room.

Walker said that JC takes mold very seriously. “Test agencies come through the school to check and test for hazardous materials so the school can maintain a certain level of cleanliness,” Walker said.

The agencies are obviously not scanning the school thoroughly enough if mold can be seen growing on any given day in different locations around campus. If the mold keeps growing and is not taken care of, health problems could eventually occur among students and faculty.

The school is cleaned on a regular, everyday basis and for special events by an outsourced company called Central Building Sources. Representatives are on campus from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day on a revolving schedule. However, this 16-hour schedule doesn’t sufficiently attack the sanitation problems. While the staff of Central Building Sources does a great job of keeping the new bathrooms clean the rest of the school falls behind.

It’s frustrating that JC cannot keep its facilities adequately clean. Sure, it’s a big place and there is a constant flow of visitors, shadows, and guests. This doesn’t change the fact that the conditions are unacceptable. If JC does not get its cleanliness under control, students and faculty may be negatively affected with health problems. It might even be fined or shut down if one of the test agencies finds out what The Patriot did. JC needs to pull out a mop and get the job done.

Emily Cassidy is an A&E Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com