Mum furious as Aussie high school removes bathroom doors
A South Australian high school is copping backlash for a decision to remove the external toilet doors from the girls' and boys' bathrooms.
Golden Grove High School, in Adelaide's northeast, sent a letter home to parents on Friday explaining the changes to four toilet blocks.
The toilet blocks will no longer have a main door before entering the bathroom to use a cubicle, a decision the school claims makes the spaces more accessible.
"We will be removing the two outer doors leading into the existing toilet blocks (A, C, F and G) so the toilets in these spaces are more easily accessible from the foyers," principal Peter Kuss said in the letter.
"Privacy is still provided to students through access to lockable, individual cubicles within the toilet blocks. It is not possible to provide handwashing facilities inside the existing toilet cubicles so students will need to complete this task at the communal wash basins outside of the cubicles.
"We believe this action will provide greater safety for student usage and will more closely align our older toilet blocks with the new standards."
Mum's fury over toilet block change
Parents however were outraged by the decision, with one mum sharing her concern on Facebook.
"[The cubicles] can still be seen from outside and there is nothing stopping opposite genders looking over or under the toilet wall/doors," she wrote.
The mother also told the Adelaide Advertiser her children no longer felt safe and felt their privacy had been compromised.
"The cubicles on some of the toilets can be seen by students and teachers walking past," she said.
"Some kids are telling the teachers they don't want to use them and so have to hold it until they get home."
But other parents understood and supported the move to take off the outer doors.
Other support changes to school bathroom
"Lots of vaping and vandalism, let's hope this puts a stop to it," one said on Facebook.
"They tried twice to stock the girls toilets with free sanitary products only to have them all over the floor within a hour both times."
"Having been there as a teen the toilets used to always get absolutely trashed and people sometimes would even hide behind the doors and block them, I see no issue as the cubicles are still private," another said.
A South Australian Education Department spokesperson told the publication students' privacy wasn't compromised by the decision to remove the outer doors.
"This was a decision made by school staff to limit students congregating in toilets," the spokesperson said.
Yahoo News has contacted the Education Department for comment.
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