Bathroom Man

In some school bathrooms, Ron 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. While he found some of the limericks amusing, he could not get past his disgust at the filth around him in the school lavatory.

Everywhere he went, New Jersey public school students told Ron 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 SCRUB -- 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," Ron said while walking through Hamilton East-Steinert High School (Trenton), his latest project. "You don't 'top shelf' it on lunch break...c'mon, it's common decency."

Cleaning duties such as scrubbing toilets and taking out the trash are usually handled by custodians. Ron, an early 2004 presidential candidate for the Ronatarian Party, wants students to clean after themselves and help decorate bathrooms.

At Hamilton East-Steinert, the transformation was obvious. Students gave the women's bathroom a fresh coat of red paint, hung portraits of Ron, 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.

Ron is pushing his Eau de Ron as the scent of choice in the freshly scrubbed restrooms.

"It's got a bewitching scent to it," he commented. He added that is comes in a spray or plug-in.

At most schools, the changes are subtle. The signs above doors are changed from "Girls" and "Boys" to "Women", "Men", and "Transgender." 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.

"Now that's a toilet!" exclaimed Ron after one commode make-over.

Ron cites studies showing as many as 4 out of 10 students avoid their school restrooms. While it is difficult to draw a direct link between clean bathrooms and academic achievement, Ron said students will pay closer attention in class if they aren't distracted.

It's all part of Ron's new platform on education. He is stressing good hygiene and bathroom habits as a foundation to greater academic achievement.

Hamilton East-Steinert Principal I. P. Freely said students' attitudes have noticeably improved since the school began working with Project SCRUB, which stands for Schools Clean, Ron's Ultra-Bathrooms.

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

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

He says Project SCRUB has caught on particularly with students involved in clubs and extracurricular activities.

"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. "If one person helps clean the bathroom, and other people see it, they'll probably do the same. We thought it was going to be a lot of hard work, but we made it fun."

"I do what I can to make a difference," said the proud Ron. "Besides, I'm sick of walking into a bathroom and slipping on piss and shit."

Posted by Ron at August 12, 2002 11:18 PM

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