The new Valdes STEM + Innovation Center has an array of dazzling features, ranging from a coffee shop to well-lit and modern research spaces. But, judging from the comments of students, faculty and parents, the building’s all-gender bathrooms are getting mixed reviews.
There are three all-gender bathrooms in the STEM center with full-length, locking doors and a common sink area. Elsewhere there are four single-user, all-gender bathrooms. One of the complications is the fact that the bathrooms are shared by Middle and Upper School students and faculty.
Administrators say the bathrooms provide flexibility to the building, but students and parents have raised concerns about privacy and safety because of their co-ed nature. Another concern raised by Upper School students and faculty is the lack of menstrual products, which have been a feature in other Upper School bathrooms marked for female use.
The concerns have been manifested in the form of emails and a petition bearing more than 100 signatures presented to Head of School Lee Hark, students and parents said.
After an initial flurry of opposition to the bathrooms, the controversy to have eased in recent days.
“[These bathrooms] were not intended to be a political statement,” said Hark. “Really, it was about where design is headed. We believe that our students will adapt to it well. There are some kinks to work out because it’s new for us, but we’ll work those out. We’re going to be gathering data from students about their experiences in the restrooms to get a sense of how it’s working.”
Sign of the Times
Administrators say the new bathrooms are not only an effort to create an inclusive community, but evidence of new architectural trends.
“I think it’s a change to come in architecture,” said Associate Head of School and Chief Financial Officer/Chief Operating Officer Kendra Grace. “They weren’t a statement; they were an evolution of architecture and where bathrooms are going.”
Grace and Hark also say the bathrooms are an efficient use of space and an important design feature in the new building.
“We wanted the building to be flexible, and I think the bathroom reflect that as well,” said Hark. “We also want those spaces to be safe and comfortable.”
But when the STEM center opened in mid-March, some students and parents immediately raised concerns about individual privacy and safety within the bathrooms because of the shared facilities among genders and age groups.
According to Hark, several parents emailed him to express concerns about the new bathrooms. Others conveyed their concerns in a petition signed by 106 parents across school divisions, according to one Greenhill parent who asked to remain anonymous.
In an email the petition signatories sent to Hark, parents asked that the STEM center bathrooms be changed to gender-specific to alleviate the “significant discomfort for students who choose to identify by gender.” The parents also said they had discussed the matter with a “pediatric medical professional” who described the STEM center bathrooms as “inappropriate in a school setting as it does not allow for a safe space.”
In a March 26 email to parents and faculty, Hark addressed the concerns and invited community members to a tour of the building to view the bathrooms.
Responding to parental concerns about the bathrooms putting some students at risk for inappropriate behavior, Hark wrote that “we have had single-user restrooms on our campus for many years but have not experienced these kinds of incidents. In fact, this design is much safer and easier to administrate than the traditional multiple stalls behind a closed door.”
Hark says the parents who attended the March 28 tour seemed more receptive to the design.
“My sense was that the people who checked out the restrooms seemed to think that once they had seen them, that they weren’t that big of a deal,” said Hark.
Menstrual Products
Additional student and faculty concerns focused on the fact that menstrual products were not being provided in the new bathrooms. In other Upper School women’s bathrooms, menstrual products are readily available on the sinks.
During an Upper School town hall on April 4, Hark told students that the administration had no plans to provide menstrual products in the bathrooms. In response, freshman Natalie Lugo sent a survey to students seekings opinions about the lack of menstrual products. She says she shared the results with Hark.
Hark subsequently announced that the school will provide menstrual products in the Valdes STEM + Innovation Center bathrooms.
Adjustments
Despite the initial concerns about the bathrooms, community members say they are adjusting to them.
“The first day that I was in there it was a little awkward just because I wasn’t used to it, but now I’m totally comfortable with it,” said Lugo.
On May 1, Hark sent an email to families and staff addressing the feedback he had received about the bathrooms. He said the administration would make two immediate changes.
First, menstrual products would be accessible in both main STEM Center bathrooms. Second, the signage in the bathrooms would be changed from “All-Gender Restroom” to “All-User Restroom,” to be “more consistent with similar facilities in other buildings across campus,” Hark wrote.
Director of Equity and Inclusion Monsie Muñoz ’05 says she thinks that people will become more used to the bathrooms as time passes.
“I see the rest of this academic year as us trying out this space,” said Muñoz. “And I think that’s fair for us to do, but we should be keeping track of [thoughts] that are coming up surrounding the bathrooms.”