East High School has recently (over winter break) replaced the 2nd-floor girls’ bathroom with an all-gender bathroom. Controversy surrounds this new change; although it's important to make space for all groups, is it okay to take away from some to give to others?
East High School is an objectively inclusive school that actively works on giving students the recognition they deserve. It’s not perfect, but then again, nothing is. Gender-neutral bathrooms have been proposed to DPS in the past in hopes of allowing students to feel more comfortable and respected in their daily lives during school. In 2020, DPS mandated all-gender bathroom access in high schools. Regardless of the prior three all-gender single stall restrooms, one of the girls bathrooms has been converted into an all-inclusive bathroom.
Through accessing information given to staff, students, and parents regarding the all-gender bathroom it was noticeable that most of this information is very “because I said so.” This article isn't meant to attack, harm, or offend any group involved, truly, this article is intended to allow everyone to understand each other. The new change in our building has caused tension between students, parents, and the school. As a community we should work towards cooperating with others instead of being upset at them. Hopefully through doing this, we can find a solution that caters to everyone's needs.
Before adding opinion pieces, I will provide the information behind the situation so you have the opportunity to formulate your opinion before being influenced into one. Currently, there are three all-gender, single-stall bathrooms; one multi-stall, all-gender bathroom; two all-girls’ bathrooms located on the north side of the first and third floors; and three all-boys bathrooms located on the west side of the first, second, and third floor. The girls' bathrooms are known for long wait times and lines out the door; in a social media post made by @denvereaststuco on Instagram, it was claimed the all-gender bathrooms “can also help reduce wait times since anyone can use them.” This reasoning seems flawed, as they removed a bathroom that previously had extensively long lines and replaced it with a bathroom open for anyone. Essentially, the boys have four bathrooms to their access while girls remain at a deficit with three. Opening a bathroom to anyone means opening it to everyone, which easily increases wait times.
In addition, the girls bathrooms have been constantly monitored throughout this current school year. They have been fully closed, doors propped open, deans monitoring who's going in and out, and it even went so far that deans were placed at a desk inside of the girls bathroom. This prompts the question of whether or not the boys' bathrooms are receiving the same treatment. It has been discovered that girls' bathrooms have become a very common spot for many people to group together and often smoke and/or vape, which has caused fire drills to occur (false fire alarms were claimed to be the reason behind the closed bathroom, if this wasn't the reason then the school failed to communicate). However, this isn't only limited to the girls; the boys bathrooms are also well known to exhibit the same behavior. They have vandalized and destroyed their resources and space, so why has the school decided to give them more? Not to say the girls haven’t treated the bathrooms the same, vandalism is damaging them as well, but there are rarely any large, substantial damages. These are the cultural factors that contribute to the controversy surrounding this subject.
Now to talk about the scientific factors, the average person goes to the bathroom 6-7 times in a day, found on B&B community. Females at birth (FAB) are prone to experiencing “progesterone levels peaking during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle and may cause the need to urinate more frequently,” National Library of Medicine. In addition, menstruation. Because of this, females often need more accessibility to bathrooms in order to most efficiently take care of their needs.
Total staff estimate: 188; 124 full-time teachers; and 2,505 students, US News. Therefore, the projected total of people who are in the building is 2,629, which means the all-gender bathroom is open to around more than two and a half thousand people. To put those numbers into better perspective, East High is the largest highschool in Denver Public Schools, according to 9News. To put it into context, DPS contains 203 schools and 87,883 students. Through these statistics it's found that the 6 main restrooms in our building are used roughly 9,707 times in a 7-hour period.
All of that time and space usage is spread across two girls bathrooms, four all-gender bathrooms (three single stalls), and three boys bathrooms. Easts enrollment statistics indicate that the student population is 50% FAB (female at birth) and 50% MAL (male at birth). Until recently, all three groups, composed of females, males, and non-gender conforming people, were given exclusive access to three restrooms. The only disadvantage was that the all-gender bathrooms were single stalls; however, they were located in less-populated areas as it would be more convenient for any student or staff member to go there instead of the front or main hallways of the school, so it wasn't intended to be smaller or singled out, but instead it was intended to be convenient and private.
Females are at an access deficit. If a female student or staff member feels uncomfortable using the all-gender bathroom, they will have to either go upstairs, downstairs, or to the back hallways during class time and/or passing period. For students, this risks receiving consequences from deans as a result of being on a different level than their pass indicates they have access to, on top of taking a greater amount of time out of class for both staff and students.
Finally, despite all of these reasons behind why I believe the all-gender bathroom was not well thought out. East’s reasoning behind this was conveyed through assistant principal Jackie Coppola sending out an email to students and staff (guardians excluded), proclaiming that “after reviewing each restroom in our building and in collaboration with the district facilities team, the best option was selected based on the structural makeup of the second floor women’s restroom. More specifically, the men’s restroom has a wall and urinals that would have needed to be removed and would have pushed us outside of the construction budget for this project.” and “this choice was made for practical reasons only.” If this bathroom was made to give “the opportunity to foster a more inclusive environment at East” then why does this choice seem to be made out of convenience?
I am asking East, as a 15 year old female sophomore student, to hear me the same way they have heard whoever initiated this change. I am not opposed to accessibility for all, instead I am opposed to justice for some at the expense of injustice for others.
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