Teh One Who Knocks
09-14-2015, 11:54 AM
By Jill Tucker - Stuff.co.nz
http://i.imgur.com/62KEbLs.jpg
In a move to accommodate students who do not fit in with typical gender norms, an elementary school in the US has made their bathrooms, well, just bathrooms.
At the beginning of the year, Miraloma Elementary in San Francisco, California, a school which cater for children aged 4 to 11, started removing all signage associated with bathrooms.
So far the change only affects kindergarten and first-grade bathrooms.
SF Gate reports the change was "in part to acknowledge six to eight students who don't fit traditional gender norms - kids who range from tomboys to transgender," said Principal Sam Bass.
The school plans to phase in the changes for older grades in the coming years.
"There's no need to make them gender-specific anymore," said Bass.
The response has been positive, with Bass adding: "One parent said, 'So, you're just making it like it is at home.'"
The news comes after students protested last week when a school in Missouri allowed a transgender teen to use the girl's locker room, CNN reported.
The push for gender-neutral bathrooms isn't confined to the States.
In 2013, a 9-year-old Australian girl, born a boy but identifies as being female, won the right to be acknowledged as a girl at school.
The issue at Miraloma Elementary was raised by parents addressing the needs of children who didn't fit in the category of traditional genders. One parent in particular was concerned for her son.
"I think most people don't think about how difficult it can be, going to the bathroom for someone like my son," says mum Jae, who didn't want to reveal her last name.
"He was just struggling with it quietly."
Now, "he can just use the restroom without thinking about it."
http://i.imgur.com/62KEbLs.jpg
In a move to accommodate students who do not fit in with typical gender norms, an elementary school in the US has made their bathrooms, well, just bathrooms.
At the beginning of the year, Miraloma Elementary in San Francisco, California, a school which cater for children aged 4 to 11, started removing all signage associated with bathrooms.
So far the change only affects kindergarten and first-grade bathrooms.
SF Gate reports the change was "in part to acknowledge six to eight students who don't fit traditional gender norms - kids who range from tomboys to transgender," said Principal Sam Bass.
The school plans to phase in the changes for older grades in the coming years.
"There's no need to make them gender-specific anymore," said Bass.
The response has been positive, with Bass adding: "One parent said, 'So, you're just making it like it is at home.'"
The news comes after students protested last week when a school in Missouri allowed a transgender teen to use the girl's locker room, CNN reported.
The push for gender-neutral bathrooms isn't confined to the States.
In 2013, a 9-year-old Australian girl, born a boy but identifies as being female, won the right to be acknowledged as a girl at school.
The issue at Miraloma Elementary was raised by parents addressing the needs of children who didn't fit in the category of traditional genders. One parent in particular was concerned for her son.
"I think most people don't think about how difficult it can be, going to the bathroom for someone like my son," says mum Jae, who didn't want to reveal her last name.
"He was just struggling with it quietly."
Now, "he can just use the restroom without thinking about it."