The Eastern Lancaster County School District is making a massive change at their high school: in a plan that's going to cost $2.4 million, they're eliminating traditional locker rooms to switch them out for non-gender specific facilities.
According to FOX 5 DC, "The board is working to eliminate locker rooms, replacing them instead with single-user restrooms, showers and changing rooms, as well as specified classrooms for teams to meet during competition when they would normally congregate in a gender-specific locker room. The spaces will have entry points in public areas of schools so that any student, regardless of assigned sex and gender identity can access them.
Of the decision to create team classrooms, the board said, “Because nobody will change in any classroom, including these team classrooms, both sexes can be present. This really helps, for instance, when we have a girls’ team coached by a male, or vice versa.”
“While this involves a significant investment,” the board acknowledged, “It is a worthwhile one that will serve students, coaches and the school well for many years to come.”
“To be absolutely clear, we seek to accommodate any student in need of an accommodation because we believe accommodations can help all students to thrive,” the board wrote it its most recent statement. “We also want to preserve bodily privacy in spaces that exist to provide privacy from those with the opposite anatomy. Some might say it’s an impossible task to balance all those interests. But it is one we’re working to implement.”"