The world we live in has many pitfalls, and one of the biggest issues we are dealing with is a lack of privacy. It doesn’t matter where you look, it always seems as if ‘big brother’ is watching and if you feel as if you do get some privacy, you are probably looking for ways that someone is invading it. That being said, there is a little corner of the world where many of us feel as if we get a degree of privacy, and that is in the bathroom. If you feel that way, you are about to have your world shattered.
When we were in high school, there were privacy issues that we had to face on a daily basis. At least when we were in the bathroom, however, we were able to escape those problems and truly be alone. It was the area where we would hang out with friends to talk about the guys or to apply the latest makeup. Some of our best memories probably revolve around those private moments in the bathroom.
That isn’t the case, however for the girls at Beardstown Junior/Senior high school in central Illinois. The school did something that has shocked people across the nation. In an unbelievable move, they decided to remove the doors from the bathroom stalls.
No, this wasn’t a mistake that could be corrected. It was in connection with a message that someone left on a stall door, threatening a school shooting.
You hear that right. The decision (albeit a poor one) of ONE student had resulted in the removal of all bathroom stall doors in all of the bathrooms on the property.
I don’t know about you, but this just doesn’t seem right.
“You have to understand when kids have a place to spend time, whether it’s a minute or five minutes sometimes things happen whether it’s good, bad or otherwise,” Beardstown School District Superintendent Ron Gilbert told WICS/WRSP. “It has helped limit some of the things that were taking place.”
Students were quite upset when they came into school one day and saw all of the doors removed. They now need to get creative to have their privacy.
Some girls will bring blankets from home to hang them over the stalls so they can be in a private setting when they use the toilet. They also have to leave their shoes outside so someone knows the stall is in use.
I don’t know about you, but this sounds like chaos.
Other students have also talked about this drastic measure. Fortunately, the school will make ‘allowances’ for some students to use a private bathroom in the nurse’s office when they feel it is appropriate.
There were other precautionary measures taken after someone left that message.
Since the threat, students in both schools are only able to enter and exit through one door. There are also random searches being conducted on the students.
If you are wondering how removing the stall doors helps, you are not the only one. Taking those doors off is not going to stop someone from making a threat. They could do it on the floor for that matter.
One thing that I can understand is the serious nature of a school shooting threat. This kind of threat needs to be tracked down and the student should be given help, even if it was nothing more than an idle threat.
“Many students are stimulated to make threats that are pranks or expressions of anger with no serious intent to carry them out,” noted Dewey Cornell, who is an expert on school violence at the University of Virginia, while talking to NPR last year. “Mock threats are especially common following other shootings,” Cornell explained, “Which was why so many threats arose following the Stoneman Douglas shooting in Parkland, Florida.”
This story is making its rounds across the internet and raising eyebrows in the process. As it turns out, it isn’t the first time schools have resorted to the extreme.
In 2018, St. Mary’s College in Wallasey, England removed the privacy wall in the girls’ bathroom to help prevent anti-social behavior. In the same year, Broadneck High School in Maryland did the same thing to help stop smoking and vaping.
The school is getting plenty of feedback:
“Then all administration and staff should be forced to use those same bathrooms and see how they like being on display,” wrote one man on Facebook.
“I feel for those who have to use them,” wrote another user. “I probably would find another school.”
There are also those who feel as if it is a lawsuit waiting to happen.
“They probably should have consulted with legal counsel prior to doing this,” said another user. “They will get eaten alive in court.”
In the end, time will tell what happens. For now, the students who attend that school will either have to put up with the privacy issues or hold it till they get home.