Colonie Implements New Rules for All Gender Bathrooms

By Khaleeda Dawood

March 1, 2022

(Colonie, NY) New security measures have been taken with the all-gender bathrooms to limit the students who use them as places to smoke and vape.

South Colonie hall monitor Jeffery Hellcamp spoke of this issue, mentioning that “Many students misused the privileges that the bathrooms offered and that there was a lack of understanding among the students as to what they were created for.”

To continue the use of these bathrooms while limiting this abuse, South Colonie staff introduced f new rules.

GSA advisor James Haertel stated that the gender-neutral bathrooms will remain locked at all times and students who would like to use them must sign in with the monitor.

“When finished with the gender-neutral bathroom, the student must sign out with the monitor and the bathroom will once again be locked,” says Haertel.

South Colonie staff will continue to monitor the use of the bathrooms with cameras in the halls as well as reallocate staff to provide better oversight. And while this may not be a perfect solution, something had to be done for the time being to keep these abuses under control, says Hellcamp.

Hellcamp continued by saying that everything has a learning curve and that it would take a while to see what will work best with the students.

While executive principal Thomas Kachadurian was unavailable to interview, he included some information about the topic via his weekly community update emails. In his weekly emails, Kachadurian mentions that staff is very much aware of the abuse with the bathrooms and that there will soon be vape detectors installed in them.

Kachadurian announced the introduction of the se gender-neutral bathrooms on January 4, as requested by the CCHS Gender/Sexuality Alliance (GSA club).

The purpose of these all-inclusive bathrooms is to provide a comfortable and safe environment for students of all genders. Hellcamp said that identity is a common struggle for many students and that these all-inclusive bathrooms helped in providing a safe space for them especially.

After interviewing South Colonie students, there had been a common misconception in regards to the inclusive bathrooms. Due to lack of understanding, many did not know these bathrooms are facilities that any student can use regardless of gender.

These gender-neutral bathrooms are available for any individual to use and are all located upstairs; two at the top of the main staircase, and the other upstairs by the math wing.