Some students are unhappy with a recent change to restrooms at Oak Harbor High School.

Associate Principal Katrina Riippa confirmed last week — preceding an announcement in a school newsletter distributed Saturday evening — that the school removed and relocated mirrors from all student restrooms over winter break.

The school made the decision in an effort to reduce vandalism and bathroom congestion, according to the announcement. Underneath an AI-generated image of high school students using a mirror, it added that mirrors have instead been “strategically placed” in each of the buildings’ hallways to prevent “bottlenecks.”

But the newsletter does not reflect another of the school’s motivations, what some students find to be rather perplexing: to reduce vaping.

Vaping is not an issue unique to Oak Harbor High School. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that of the 1.63 million U.S. students who used e-cigarettes in 2024, 1.2 million of them were high school students.

An initial statement from Riippa cited reducing vaping and vandalism as the school’s reasons, while a later statement from Principal Nate Salisbury addressed these concerns as well as those about bathroom congestion.

“While moving the mirrors may not fully stop incidents of vandalism or vaping, the high school is hopeful that this will be one way to help with these issues,” Salisbury said.

In doing so, the school does not violate the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, guidance the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction confirmed schools must comply with but does not require mirrors.

How effective the decision will be remains to be seen.

Senior Ayden Schofield usually sees graffiti in stalls and on the walls in bathrooms, rather than on the mirrors. But Martha Taylor, a sophomore, heard some students “chipped away” at the mirrors, and fellow 10th grader Ally Alvaro has seen scratches on their surface.

All three students, however, have either seen or heard of students vaping in school bathrooms. None of them think removing and relocating the mirrors addresses the problem.

Taylor explained that bathrooms become crowded in the first place because students congregate to talk and vape. Students who vape, she added, are unlikely to stop because they are already “desperate enough” to do it during school hours.

“I really don’t think taking out the mirrors is gonna change that. I think the mirrors — they’re a perk, they’re not really the reason people go (to the bathrooms),” Taylor said.

Schofield shared her sentiment, adding that “mirrors do not affect anybody’s decision to vape.”

That may be because vapes typically contain the addictive chemical nicotine, and “feeling anxious, stressed or depressed” is “the most common reason” students provide for using them, according to a 2024 article by the CDC. Discouraging e-cigarette use can be done by encouraging youth to practice “healthy coping skills” for these feelings, like by prioritizing self-care and “proactively managing stress.”

While the school said in its newsletter it received “positive responses from students” about the decision, “particularly when it comes to its effects on their ability to get to classes on time,” feedback may be more nuanced in actuality.

“People are really upset about it,” Taylor said. “A lot of people think it’s unfair.”