Ottawa's Public School board is preparing for a return to class with new signage on some bathrooms.
The plan is to offer gender neutral bathrooms in some schools so that all students have a safe place to go.
The school board learned at the Rainbow Youth Forum in the spring that the washroom is one of the top things students look for in a welcoming school; a place where not all kids feel safe all the time.
The hope is that these universal bathrooms, as the board is calling them, will change that although not everyone is embracing this change.
Washroom signs with no specific gender on them are popping up in washrooms throughout the Ottawa Public School Board.
They are called "universal" bathrooms, accessible to everyone: male, female or those still questioning their gender identity. The Ottawa Carleton District School Board says as it was looking at converting some washrooms to help with accessibility issues, it decided this was a good time to look at how it could also provide access to single stall bathrooms for children who may be questioning their sexual identity.
‘We’re proud of it,’ says Mike Carson, the board’s superintendent of facilities, ‘It's work that can be done, that needs to be done and we are trying to keep pace with our communities.’
The school board says it is converting some single unit washrooms in schools where there are requests from parents whose kids may be transitioning from one gender to another. It is getting about 5 such requests a year, though some may be based on accessibility issues as well.
‘Our biggest concern is obviously safety and making sure kids feel safe in their school,’ says Carson.
It can be a tough haul for gender creative or transgender kids. The school washroom is often where they feel bullied.
‘I think it’s going to help kids a lot,’ says 9-year-old Charlie Lowthian-Rickert, who was born a boy but identifies as a girl. Most kids, like her, want to use the bathroom they identify with.
‘I feel more comfortable in the girls’ washroom,’ she says. ‘I look like a girl so people think I am a girl. If I go into boys; washroom, boys will think “Why is there a girl in this bathroom?” and they might bully me.’
Charlie will still be able to use the girls' bathroom but these universal washrooms provide an option for those kids who are still figuring it out.
‘It offers children and parents a measure of security that they will be safe when using the bathroom,’ says Anne Lowthian, Charlie’s mother, ‘that they won't have to hold it all day long for fear of being bullied in the washroom.’
The next big area to tackle will likely be school change rooms. Already, the school board has had requests from two high schools as to how to convert spaces like change rooms into accessible spaces for transgender kids. One option it is looking at is installing shower curtains in some shower stalls or converting custodian spaces into private change rooms.
Not everyone is embracing these changes though. CTV Ottawa has been told that two families have pulled their children out of an elementary school over the transgender issue. Charlie's mother applauds the school board's progress but admits there is still a way to go.
‘It is our hope that we can reach out to other families who are most concerned about this and share our information with them and our stories with them and encourage them to get to know us before they judge.’
This is happening on a smaller scale within other boards. The Catholic School board for instance says its practice has been to help all students with special needs and accommodate them on a case by case basis.
