Toilet doors removed - secondary school

[sparkie1972]

I've just received a letter from my daughters school, to say that they have removed the outside doors to the girls and boys toilets, to resolve the issue of students congregating in there during lesson times. The main cubical doors will remain in tact, but the move would allow staff to look check quickly if learners are standing by the sink area. I'm concerned about the privacy and dignity of the girls being eroded. Any ideas on how to approach this with the school?

Have you ever seen a disabled toilet? Everybody knows what you're doing when you go in there and you don't even have the safety of knowing nobody is able to open the door on you when you're midflow, thanks to the safety 'lock' where a 2p can be used to open it for jokes.

Tbh, the kids have ruined it for themselves.

I cannot bear this attitude. It's like whole class punishments where the well-behaved kids are punished along with the badly-behaved ones. Not all kids misbehave and maybe the kids that need privacy (due to period problems perhaps) are not the ones vaping or beating up other kids but just want to be able to clean up in peace.

Are the cubicle doors and partition walls floor to ceiling with working locks?

At that age I sometimes got blood on my hands and occasionally on my legs. I would wipe it off my legs, really wishing I could wash it. I'd wipe my hands as best I could but still needed to scrub them.

It would have been so much more stressful if I had been visible to anyone who cared to look, instead of just among other girls who had the same problems. I might also have put off changing a tampon, which is not a good idea.

I don't know whether or not the antisocial behaviour risk outweighs this. But OP's concerns are valid.

But it’s not the fault of the child in the next door cubicle if your daughter is embarrassed about her pad rustling. Taking off the main toilet door won’t make the slightest difference to this.

Why would you not wipe the blood off with toilet paper before you left the cubicle? It’s a bit gross to be opening door handles with blood on your hands.

Some women on this thread appear to have been very lucky and live relatively charmed menstrual lives if they have never needed to wash blood off skin or clothing at a sink. Perimenopause may come as something of a shock...

Please do not underestimate the issues other women and girls routinely deal with.

So how do you tackle the anti social behaviour then ?

I'd probs feel safer tbh. It means nobody can corner you in the toilets.

It's a little naive to think that there's some kind of supportive sisterhood in the girls' toilets too. A lot of girls will go nowhere near the girls toilets during break and lunchtime.

Younger pupils will often not go in if there’s gangs of older pupils in there, taking the front door off stops them congregating

I don't see the issue either.

It depends on the cubicle doors and layout.
Some people are saying no different to service station toilets but our school ones don’t have the same kind of main entrance so anyone waking past would be looking at the feet of the people in the cubicles. I don’t know any service stations where you can see the cubicles from outside.
This wouldn’t stop bullying, it would just create reasons and move it.

Ah, I think this is a normal embarrassment at that age. I had it with the main door on. I’d suggest she could flush the chain to cover the noise of changing pads, rather than not changing sanitary wear during school hours

Sorry that above message was to @Believeitornot

When I was at school my pads often leaked. On more than one occasion I had to wash my pants in the sink then dry them under the dryer. Great with no door, even better in unisex toilets I’m sure.

its a good idea to change toilets like this - stops all the girls vaping in groups inside the cubicles as easier to check. Most schools
are aiming to change to this

DD has periods from hell but she’s campaigning for exactly this change so she can actually get into a toilet (currently impossible due to all the gaggles !)

Remember people - only boys will notice and bully girls for rinsing blood off hands/clothes. Groups of girls congregating to vape and record tik toks would never do this. Never.

At that age?

I get blood on my hands now, I wipe as much as I can with loo roll and carefully get to the sink touching as little as possible and then wash my hands

It is what it is.

This

Single access toilets with sinks inside work best.

Toilets in school were notorious for bullying and other serious issues.

We have single access toilets with doors with no gaps that are straight onto a corridor. Much easier to monitor by staff. We also have a camera outside (to spot those we suspect of vaping or to catch those who vandalise the toilets which sadly happens lots).

They would be moaning more if your children didn't feel safe going to the toilet due to bullying or couldn't use the toilets as constantly closed due to vandalism.

There's just no dignity for girls and women anymore is there. No wonder my daughter holds it in all day, rather than being subjected to this obsession around where she should go to the toilet. Her dignity and right to privacy should come first, rather than a political issue forced by those who just don't care / want to erode women's dignity, rights and safety.

Imagine if you felt embarrassed with the main door on, how much worse it would be if the main door was off.

Never washed blood off your hands at the sink? Want to do so as a 12 year old girl, in front of a laughing teenage boy who’ll take photos and tell his friends?