Page 33 - School Planning & Management, May 2017

design solutions,” says Boatwalla. Wroble agrees: “I’m seeing school
districts make the decision to go above and beyond to make everyone comfortable and provide privacy. And that’s the crux of the issue: How to provide privacy no matter your gender.”
“How do we treat everyone with dignity and respect?” adds Anderson. “How do
we make this the most agreeable for most students, regardless of what the law says?”
Right now, gender-neutral restroom solutions vary from school to school and district to district. “Some are choosing
to provide specific restrooms that are not designated by gender, which are similar in nature to family restrooms that you might find in any public facility,” says Ferking, whose firm is currently designing two high schools in the northwest that will provide all gender-neutral restrooms. “Others are
choosing to provide only restrooms that are shared by both genders. Generally, this solution entails providing individual stalls/toilet rooms with sinks supplied in a shared area.”
One of the elements that’s discussed during design conversations is that provid- ing all individual stalls requires addi- tional square footage, and building codes require a specific number of stalls per sex. Therefore, says Ferking, “When providing gender-neutral restrooms, we must work with building officials to ensure that we are providing adequate facilities to meet the intent of the code. And supervision is something to be carefully considered when providing individual stalls. The solution must balance the need for privacy, while recognizing that these spaces need to be easily supervised.”
Anderson encourages administrators
to keep having design conversations. “I hope administrators will continue to work in the best interest of their students, which they traditionally have done because they have huge hearts for them,” she says. “That may mean taking legal risks, and they have to consider parents. But they have to take care of their students, and I hope they have the courage to make the best decisions for them with input from all sources. They might have to think a little creatively.”
There are a number of concerns that are driving changes in restroom, shower room and locker room design. Because it has been a while since these spaces have seen change, administrators and architects alike are searching for viable options, some of which are more challenging than others. With budgets and conversations in hand, they’ll do what they always have done: find the best solutions. SPM
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