Virginia School To Provide Genderless Bathrooms For Second Graders

A soon-to-be-built Virginia elementary school will have one of the state’s first sets of genderless bathrooms, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

The plans for the construction of John M. Gandy Elementary School in Ashland, Virginia, feature bathrooms to be shared by both girls and boys, with stall partitions reaching from the ground to the ceiling, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The school is set to open in 2024 with the genderless bathrooms for second through fifth graders.

The designer Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates announced that the sinks will be separate from the bathroom and located in the hallways for students, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. The multi-stall bathrooms will be put in the cafeteria and gymnasium.

The Hanover County School Board approved the plans for the genderless bathrooms last week after initially voting against the plans in November 2021, according to News 6 Richmond. Five parents with transgender students in the district sued the school board for allegedly breaking a state law that requires school boards to adopt accommodation plans for transgender students.

“The goal of this design is to increase student safety and decrease potential damage to the bathrooms,” Hanover County Public Schools spokesman Chris Whitley told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates and the Hanover County School Board did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.