"As many OSA students know, the administration recently bolted open the Gender Neutral bathroom door. But why did they make this decision? And why only now, when inappropriate behavior has been an issue for a while?" --Alice Stewart, 6th grade
As many OSA students know, the administration recently bolted open the Gender Neutral bathroom door. But why did they make this decision? And why only now, when inappropriate behavior has been an issue for a while?
The administration made their decision to bolt open the Gender Neutral bathroom door after many complaints from students about inappropriate behavior. As Domino Howlett-Cragg, a 7th grade Literary Arts student, so aptly states, “It’s turned into a total drug-fest, and where students engage in inappropriate behavior or skipping, so people don’t really view it as a gender-neutral bathroom, just a hangout place for mixed gender friends.” Sixth grade Vocal student Zahra Diaz agrees, saying,“[Inappropriate behavior] almost makes me scared to use [that bathroom].”
“In response to these complaints, we increased supervision of the gender neutral bathroom, with a security guard checking the bathroom every 15 minutes to ensure it was not being misused but the complaints have persisted even with increased monitoring,” wrote OSA Principal Rachel Dalton on Jan. 8th in community email. However,the quarter-hourly checks did not fix the problem. Dalton continues, “In an effort to address these complaints more effectively, we talked with various families and administered a survey asking if there was interest/support in bolting the gender neutral bathroom open. We received overwhelming responses in favor of bolting the door open from all students and families.” This survey was sent on August 27th, and students received it during Advisory.
The door was bolted open on January 8th. Now that it has been bolted open, the only bathrooms with the doors not bolted open are the ones on the bottom floor, next to the Student Center.
However, there are mixed opinions on whether or not bolting open the door will fix the problem. Maia Cavagnolo, a 8th grade Literary Arts student, says, “Yes, I think [bolting open the door will help] because they can see what people are doing easier.” Jordan Karnes, chair of Literary Arts, agrees, stating, “I think having the door [bolted open] will help because students who go there to avoid class and hang out can't do that as easily. They're most visible now, and it takes away the allure of that space.”
However, Howlett-Cragg disagrees. “I don’t really think it was a smart idea because it’s not going to solve anything. If you wanted to see if there was inappropriate behavior it wouldn’t make a difference, and some people who ARE gender neutral want privacy,” she states. Cavagnolo agrees with the statement about privacy, saying, “...I feel like it’s kinda weird because you can just… look in.” Cavagnolo suggests that “the stalls then should be more floor to ceiling for more privacy for students who use this bathroom.”
Howlett-Cragg suggests that, instead of having removed the door, “…to fix this you could maybe have a camera outside the door, to inspect who's coming in, or somebody to ask who you were, but it's a hard case to solve.”
Another important question is: Why did the administration only bolt open the door now when inappropriate behavior has been an issue for a while now? Marcy Hernandez, OSA Middle School Vice Principal, says that “...the timeline of this decision came initially when I first started. It was brought to my attention by a gender-nonconforming student, that it was being misused, that people were using it as a hiding place, or a social place, or for putting on makeup, and it was making it feel like an unsafe place for students who actually wanted to use it for what it’s supposed to be used for.”
“And so, that was in, like, August,” Hernandez continues. “So I had been having conversations since August about what we could do.” There were also some issues structurally that provided another problem. “The bathroom’s in a curve,” Hernandez states. “There’s a curve, and the bathroom’s in a curve. So, bolting the door open was not possible because there’s nothing for it to be bolted to.”
A survey of the student body showed, according to Hernandez, “...overwhelmingly, students who identify as gender-nonconforming said, YES. PLEASE. Rip off the door, bolt it open, just, there’s too much unsupervised activity happening, and it makes it so that students are misusing it.” So the plan was made, but, Hernandez says, “we (the administrators) didn’t get approval to move forward with it until over winter break. Just because these things take time. So, we’ve been talking about it since the beginning of the year, but it didn’t happen until [winter break].”
According to Dalton’s email, “SB 760 requires most California schools to provide at least one all-gender restroom on campus for student use by July 1, 2026.” Which raises the question, in this politically fraught time, will Trump’s decisions affect the gender neutral bathroom in any way?
“I think it might affect the gender neutral bathroom in some states, but most of the states in America would probably not be affected, because it’s hard to control a country this big, and if we in particular are affected, there might be a rebellion or riots, so [a law about that] probably won’t follow through,” muses Howlett-Cragg.
“Trump's Inauguration speech directly targeted trans people,” says Karnes. In fact, according to Trump makes 'two sexes' official and scraps DEI policies, “Trump… signed an order designating two genders only— male and female—and declaring that they cannot be changed." As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female," Trump said during his inaugural address earlier on Monday.”
“As a trans person myself, I am really on guard,” Karnes says. “It's really intense when the President of the United States not only says you don't exist, but that you aren't deserving of the same rights and protections given to cis people. So, of course protecting this space for students at OSA is a big deal at a time like this. We want trans people to feel safe at school, safe in the bathrooms, safe everywhere.”
The administration made their decision to bolt open the Gender Neutral bathroom door after many complaints from students about inappropriate behavior. As Domino Howlett-Cragg, a 7th grade Literary Arts student, so aptly states, “It’s turned into a total drug-fest, and where students engage in inappropriate behavior or skipping, so people don’t really view it as a gender-neutral bathroom, just a hangout place for mixed gender friends.” Sixth grade Vocal student Zahra Diaz agrees, saying,“[Inappropriate behavior] almost makes me scared to use [that bathroom].”
“In response to these complaints, we increased supervision of the gender neutral bathroom, with a security guard checking the bathroom every 15 minutes to ensure it was not being misused but the complaints have persisted even with increased monitoring,” wrote OSA Principal Rachel Dalton on Jan. 8th in community email. However,the quarter-hourly checks did not fix the problem. Dalton continues, “In an effort to address these complaints more effectively, we talked with various families and administered a survey asking if there was interest/support in bolting the gender neutral bathroom open. We received overwhelming responses in favor of bolting the door open from all students and families.” This survey was sent on August 27th, and students received it during Advisory.
The door was bolted open on January 8th. Now that it has been bolted open, the only bathrooms with the doors not bolted open are the ones on the bottom floor, next to the Student Center.
However, there are mixed opinions on whether or not bolting open the door will fix the problem. Maia Cavagnolo, a 8th grade Literary Arts student, says, “Yes, I think [bolting open the door will help] because they can see what people are doing easier.” Jordan Karnes, chair of Literary Arts, agrees, stating, “I think having the door [bolted open] will help because students who go there to avoid class and hang out can't do that as easily. They're most visible now, and it takes away the allure of that space.”
However, Howlett-Cragg disagrees. “I don’t really think it was a smart idea because it’s not going to solve anything. If you wanted to see if there was inappropriate behavior it wouldn’t make a difference, and some people who ARE gender neutral want privacy,” she states. Cavagnolo agrees with the statement about privacy, saying, “...I feel like it’s kinda weird because you can just… look in.” Cavagnolo suggests that “the stalls then should be more floor to ceiling for more privacy for students who use this bathroom.”
Howlett-Cragg suggests that, instead of having removed the door, “…to fix this you could maybe have a camera outside the door, to inspect who's coming in, or somebody to ask who you were, but it's a hard case to solve.”
Another important question is: Why did the administration only bolt open the door now when inappropriate behavior has been an issue for a while now? Marcy Hernandez, OSA Middle School Vice Principal, says that “...the timeline of this decision came initially when I first started. It was brought to my attention by a gender-nonconforming student, that it was being misused, that people were using it as a hiding place, or a social place, or for putting on makeup, and it was making it feel like an unsafe place for students who actually wanted to use it for what it’s supposed to be used for.”
“And so, that was in, like, August,” Hernandez continues. “So I had been having conversations since August about what we could do.” There were also some issues structurally that provided another problem. “The bathroom’s in a curve,” Hernandez states. “There’s a curve, and the bathroom’s in a curve. So, bolting the door open was not possible because there’s nothing for it to be bolted to.”
A survey of the student body showed, according to Hernandez, “...overwhelmingly, students who identify as gender-nonconforming said, YES. PLEASE. Rip off the door, bolt it open, just, there’s too much unsupervised activity happening, and it makes it so that students are misusing it.” So the plan was made, but, Hernandez says, “we (the administrators) didn’t get approval to move forward with it until over winter break. Just because these things take time. So, we’ve been talking about it since the beginning of the year, but it didn’t happen until [winter break].”
According to Dalton’s email, “SB 760 requires most California schools to provide at least one all-gender restroom on campus for student use by July 1, 2026.” Which raises the question, in this politically fraught time, will Trump’s decisions affect the gender neutral bathroom in any way?
“I think it might affect the gender neutral bathroom in some states, but most of the states in America would probably not be affected, because it’s hard to control a country this big, and if we in particular are affected, there might be a rebellion or riots, so [a law about that] probably won’t follow through,” muses Howlett-Cragg.
“Trump's Inauguration speech directly targeted trans people,” says Karnes. In fact, according to Trump makes 'two sexes' official and scraps DEI policies, “Trump… signed an order designating two genders only— male and female—and declaring that they cannot be changed." As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female," Trump said during his inaugural address earlier on Monday.”
“As a trans person myself, I am really on guard,” Karnes says. “It's really intense when the President of the United States not only says you don't exist, but that you aren't deserving of the same rights and protections given to cis people. So, of course protecting this space for students at OSA is a big deal at a time like this. We want trans people to feel safe at school, safe in the bathrooms, safe everywhere.”
