Grant High School in Portland, Ore., has announced plans to switch all of its bathrooms to gender-neutral as part of a $100 million modernization project.
KOIN-TV reports that the decision was reached after careful consideration from many people.
“We had a design advisory group that met for a year,” says Grant Principal Carol Campbell. “In addition to those meetings, which happened once a month, they had community input meetings.”
Right now, to accommodate transgender students, Grant High School has taken single-stall staff bathrooms and turned them into gender-neutral options for staff and students. Campbell says that arrangement still singles out students who would like to use gender-neutral restrooms.
The new bathrooms will not have “boys” or “girls” labels, instead being simply marked as toilets. The restrooms will continue to be communal, with each stall featuring floor-to-ceiling doors.
The restrooms will be situated on corners and have two doorways, one of which will not have a closing door, in order to allow easier supervision for teachers.
Gender-neutral bathrooms have been a controversial topic across the nation, but Campbell says that hasn’t been the case at Grant.
Video from KOIN-TV:
