Bathrooms in Augusta County's new middle schools won't be gender-neutral

VERONA — Sharon Griffin stood before the Augusta County School Board Thursday night, asking the members not to listen to the "loudest voices" when it comes to the debate over gender-neutral bathrooms.

Griffin, who is a candidate for the North River District school board seat this November, was speaking against gender-neutral bathrooms in the new middle school wings at Riverheads and Buffalo Gap currently being constructed.

The interesting thing about Griffin's comment is that the loudest voices, really the only voices to be heard on this topic, are on Griffin's side. Of the 17 people speaking Thursday, 16 were against the design of gender-neutral bathrooms, many receiving applause following their remarks.

And those are the voices to which the school board eventually listened, voting Thursday night to reject the idea of gender-neutral bathrooms at the new middle schools.

The idea that boys and girls would be sharing the same bathrooms at the same time was never in the plans. The idea, as explained by school officials, was to have banks of private, self-contained toilets throughout both schools. The banks would contain anywhere from two to four individual stalls with each stall having a door that closes and locks much like in a residential bathroom with no gap at the top or bottom.

It would be gender-neutral because each stall could be used by anyone, but only one person at a time would be in there. And the sink would be in a common area shared by all and visible from the hallway.

Middle River District representative David Shiflett told the audience Thursday, "We're not going to have unisex bathrooms. That's not going to happen," making it sound like that was never an option.

However, according to school officials, that was the board's plan before outrage from some in the public. The News Leader reached out in August to Augusta County Public Schools, asking if the plan was to build gender-neutral bathrooms. School officials said the idea was discussed and was "the consensus by the board during the design phase" as a safe and practical way of providing appropriate facilities for all students.

The unanimous vote Thursday to designate the banks of bathrooms either "boys" or "girls" also included as part of the motion to cut a gap at the top and bottom of all doors "at a measurement to be determined." Many speaking out against the bathroom design felt that without a gap in the doors, illicit activity may happen in the bathroom stalls.

Speakers also expressed a concern that the planned bathroom design provided a lack of privacy. As someone pointed out on X, formerly known as Twitter, following the vote, cutting gaps in the doors will "make the bathrooms less private."

There was also an issue with a single bank of bathrooms in the cafeteria of each middle school. Staff will explore how to handle that situation, possibly adding a dividing wall between stalls, as well as the positioning of security cameras outside of the bathrooms.

Tim Simmons, the Pastures District representative, led the charge against gender-neutral bathrooms. He built up opposition to the plans through social media, posting on Facebook about the design in early August. Many speaking Thursday thanked Simmons, saying they wouldn't have known about the bathroom plans without him posting on social media.

"Thank god for Tim Simmons," said Nick Astarb, who actually ran against Simmons in 2021. "You know what is sad? We would not have known about this if it had not been for a Facebook post."

There is some question whether Simmons should have known about the bathroom design earlier than he did. Superintendent Eric Bond laid out the timeline of the design at Thursday's meeting. He said staff began meeting with architects during the summer of 2021, before Simmons was elected.

The architects provided draft renderings to the school division, which were presented to the board at the Dec. 2, 2021 regular monthly meeting. And at the Jan. 20, 2022, board retreat members of both RRMM Architects and Nielsen Builders gave an update on the construction project. Simmons was on the board for the January meeting, his first month as an elected board member.

Simmons was also not only on the board in August, 2022, when the board voted to award the construction contract to Nielsen Builders, but Simmons made the motion to do so. That was a year before Simmons brought up his concerns about the bathrooms.

He did say Thursday night that he did approve funds for construction, but wasn't aware of the bathroom design.

While many praised Simmons Thursday night, not everyone did.

Leslie Snyder, who lives in the North River District, thanked the board and Bond for their dedication to students.

"There is one board member, however, that apparently does not have these same characteristics at heart," Snyder said. "Mr. Simmons, you and I have known each other for a very long time and, in fact, we are in the same law enforcement profession. I am absolutely appalled at the way you have taken social media and stirred up members of Augusta County over the individual bathrooms that have been built in our middle schools."

Snyder, who works for the Augusta County Sheriff's Office, said the current design of bathrooms in schools is where school resource officers have the most trouble, including bullying, fighting and vandalism. Snyder said her young child will not go into bathrooms at schools because of the way some other students act. The single-user bathroom design planned for the middle school could eliminate some of this behavior, she said.

"Have you ever used a porta potty? Have you ever used the family bathroom at Target?" Synder said. "They're both unisex. I do not see where these bathrooms are an issue at all from a parent's perspective or a law enforcement perspective."

She also pointed out that, in many schools, boys and girls bathrooms are currently next to one another.

Simmons responded later in the meeting that he has visited all the schools in the district.

"I hope you weren't trying to mislead people maliciously," Simmons told Snyder. "If you were, then I forgive you. People sometimes get things wrong."

The vote by the school board does nothing to change the rights of transgender students to use the bathroom reflecting their gender identity.

Gavin Grimm, a transgender male, was denied access to the boys' bathroom and filed suit in 2015 against Gloucester County in Virginia, saying it violated his rights under Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found in favor of Grimm, saying the school’s policy discriminated against him. The court hears appeals from the nine federal district courts in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Sharon Griffin told the board Thursday night that the court got it wrong, but in 2021 the Supreme Court of the United States chose not to review the case, allowing the 4th Circuit's decision to stand.

"Biological sex is immutable and absolutely not based on how one thinks or feels," Griffin told the board, to which one person in the audience responded, "Amen."

There is a difference, however, between sex and gender. According to the American Medical Association, "sex refers to the biological differences between males and females. Gender refers to the continuum of complex psychosocial self-perceptions, attitudes, and expectations people have about members of both sexes."

Transgender rights will likely be a topic of discussion in coming months at Augusta County School Board meetings as the body will have to take up the issue of Gov. Glenn Youngkin's model policies for the treatment of transgender students.

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— Patrick Hite is a reporter at The News Leader. Story ideas and tips always welcome. Contact Patrick (he/him/his) at phite@newsleader.com and follow him on Twitter @Patrick_Hite. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Bathrooms in Augusta County's new middle schools won't be gender-neutral