New policy limits number of students in restrooms to number of private stalls

New policy limits number of students in restrooms to number of private stalls

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New policy limits number of students in restrooms to number of private stalls

A debate over the Milford School District's bathroom policies is continuing after a temporary fix is not sitting well with students or parents.

Monday night, the school board voted to limit the number of students who use restrooms and locker rooms to the number of private stalls that exist in the restroom. With trash bags now covering urinals, students and parents said the new policy isn't a good fix, and school leaders said it's affecting students' work in the classroom.

"None of us actually asked for any sort of change," said high school student Marelyn Bergin. "The whole issue arose from something that happened at the middle school."

A heated meeting Monday night brought forth a proposal to change the district's bathroom policy, which allows students to use whichever bathroom aligns with their gender identity. The proposal would require them to use the bathroom associated with their gender assigned at birth.

"I've actually suggested a few times that we just make all of the bathrooms single-use," said Milford parent Samia Demarco. "People argue that all of your bathrooms at home are unisex, and we've never had any problems."

Superintendent Christi Mishaud said the district is working to come up with a compromise. One thing they're looking at is installing floor-to-ceiling stalls, but there would be some hurdles.

"That's going to be quite expensive, and it's not likely something that we'll be able to – even if funded and the board chooses to allocate funds to that kind of a project –that we'll be able to do until summertime," Mishaud said.

Ultimately, she said, the goal is for all students to feel comfortable at school.

"There's a lot of passion on both sides of this conversation," Mishaud said. "Finding a sort of win-win or a compromise is really hard to do."

The next school board meeting is scheduled for Feb. 20. The superintendent said there's a chance that the policy limiting the number of students in restrooms could be revoked before then.

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