Related story: At Durfee High, the going gets tough when it's time to go

By Dan Barbarisi
Journal Staff Writer

On my first night as the regular reporter covering the journalistic Valhalla that is Fall River, Mass., there was all manner of craziness at the regular School Committee meeting -- accusations flying, budgetary fiascos, too much for me to digest all at once. But one comment by an angry parent caught my attention.

When you hear a parent sniping at the School Committee, tossing around numbers like, ``Fifteen-hundred boys for that one bathroom,'' you think that it just can't be right, that they've got to be exaggerating to make their point.

And nine times out of ten, that's the case. I was lucky that this was the one time it was true.

On a hunch, I flagged the guy down after the meeting, and asked him if it was worth my going over to Durfee High School to check it out. His cryptic reply of ``Oh yeah, you'll find what you're looking for'' was enough to get me going.

But I didn't quite expect what I found when I got there (after weaseling my way past a rent-a-cop who was a little too good at his job). The one bathroom was easy to find, and it was a pigsty. An absolutely disgusting place, clouded with smoke, reeking of urine, and with half the equipment smashed and out of commission.

Fortunately, the director of buildings and grounds office was right next door and he was more than willing to talk, as were the two students I flagged down coming out of the bathroom while classes were in session. But it was when talking to the principal that I lucked into the best part of the story.

Just as we were finishing up our conversation, the fire alarm started going off, and he said, ``Oh hell, there it goes again'' -- meaning that more kids were smoking in the bathroom. I quickly excused myself and ran out there to see an impossibly large group of boys literally falling over each other to get out of the bathroom before the teachers showed up to bust them -- like clowns from a car.

An inspiring footnote: I hadn't been back in Durfee until the other day, when I had the chance to walk by the bathroom. It's clean, it's got paper towels, and it even boasts a fresh coat of bright blue paint, a big improvement over the nasty peeling brown. And there are apparently several other bathrooms open now, too.

Ah, the power of the pen.