Front page above the fold Boston Globe article published June 27, 2022 covers school bathroom closures statewide.

The Gillnetter, Gloucester’s High School newspaper featured an on trend opinion piece by Jenna Smith published back in February 2022 — which elicited change. The local newspaper, Gloucester Daily Times, published it also. Both covered the TikTok challenge in September and fall of 2021.

“Our school has eleven student bathrooms, five designated for females, five for males, and one single stall gender neutral bathroom.

During the day, only the first floor  bathroom is unlocked during passing times between classes. The science wing bathrooms are always locked, and the second and third floor bathrooms are only open if a teacher is there to unlock and supervise them. Teachers have been directed not to allow students to use the bathroom during the first and last five minutes of classes, as well as the first five, and the last five minutes of lunch.  This means that students can only access the restroom during class time. Typically, the first floor restroom is the one available, however sometimes it changes, which results in students having to go on a scavenger hunt to find an open restroom. Once we manage to find the bathroom that is open, we must wait in a line as only three students are allowed in the restroom at a time.”

excerpt from Gloucester High School newspaper, GHS Gillnetter, Feb 2022 article by Jenna Smith – read the full piece here: Open the Bathrooms, Please

Boston Globe article by Jenna Russell for Great Divide series published 6/27/2022 read the full article here School Bathroom Closures anger students statewide