Brisbane’s Newest High School Is Opening Unisex Toilets For A Student Early Next Year.
The step taken by Fortitude Valley State Secondary College is criticized by parents and experts. It will be the first school in Queensland which will not have separate bathrooms for boys and girls.
Toilets at the $80 million vertical high school will be unisex, confirmed by the Department of Education. There will be two male and female toilets in change room facilities in St Paul’s Terrace precinct.
Toilets will open in 2020, but year 7 students will have access to 12 lockable, self-contained gender-neutral bathrooms, from next month.
Education expert and mom Michelle Mitchell called the move ‘ridiculous’.
‘We already know some really bad things happen to kids in bathroom areas of schools – bullying, s*xting, kids recording on mobiles, these things already go on when they’re just within their sex, and then you’re adding in an extra element,’ she told The Sunday Mail.
‘Being a teenager is a really big time of change, for boys and girls, and kids have a right to feel safe.’
According to the department, the plan is in progress with modern, state-of-the-art, vertical high schools in other states, including South Australia’s Adelaide Botanic High School.
‘The toilet facilities at Fortitude Valley State Secondary College meet contemporary design standards about accessibility, inclusivity, privacy, and safety,’ a department spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia.
‘Each unisex toilet cubicle is lockable in line with contemporary best practice and underpinned by safety considerations.’
Opposition education spokesman Jarrod Bleijie fears the ‘very bad’ move could be a ‘recipe for disaster’.
‘I reckon boys and girls need and deserve their privacy at school,’ Mr. Bleijie posted on Facebook on Sunday.
‘How about instead of this PC rubbish the government spends more time helping our teachers with workload issues, air-con our schools, declutter the curriculum, fix the school maintenance backlogs and better support our teachers in regional and remote Queensland. Labor has its priorities all wrong.’
The Facebook post got a divided response.
‘These kids are in high school why do we have them sharing the same toilets when so many other aspects of their education need to be improved. Also, young ladies and men need their privacy,’ one person commented.
Another added: There is no way I would send my kids to a school that has that! Especially being the mother of girls. not that it’s just girls sexually abused, then there is bullying and underage s*x. Our schools aren’t safe environments anymore.’
But many others couldn’t understand the fuss.
‘Nearly every accessible facility for disabled people is a unisex facility, and, last time I looked, nearly every household, you know where these kids live, has unisex toilet facilities! There are bigger issues than this that deserve attention,’ one person commented.
Another added: ‘I think this is a fantastic move and is more representative of what our modern state requires, kids are struggling with their gender identity they will have a safe space to use as a bathroom, as they might not feel comfortable in the boys/girls facilities.’
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