This article aims to share part of some middle-term research focused on Argentinian school bathrooms. Bathrooms in Argentina emerged around 1850 and have been present - with nuances - in public and domestic buildings since the last third of the nineteenth century. Particularly, primary-school bathroom history is marked by two facts. First, these…

As architects and designers, we face design challenges that are rooted in the built condition. In our collaboration with student activities professionals, the effective use of space to service, engage, and welcome the campus community is at the forefront of design and planning discussions. We must consider the social implications of our physical…

Gendered washrooms and changerooms are sites of tension for many transgender and/or gender non-conforming users. However, these are not the only groups impacted by the exclusive provision of gendered spaces. As gender-neutral facilities become increasingly standardized across multiple sectors, we consider how the rising trend of "universal…

When Roberta J. Cordano became president of Gallaudet University and began her term in January 2016, it was with an air of positive transformation. Kendall Demonstration Elementary School (KDES) and the Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD)--the two demonstration schools under the umbrella of Gallaudet's Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education…

North Carolina voted into law legislation known as the Privacy Facilities and Security Act, commonly known as HB2 or the anti-transgender "bathroom bill." We use Pinar's (1975a, 1975b, 2012) "currere" methodology as a brief exercise in deconstructing this bathroom bill and others similar to it. In this short piece, we go…

This paper focusses on the forensic work put on display at Londres-38, a building in Santiago Chile designated as a National Monument, which once functioned as a torture and extermination centre under Pinochet's dictatorship. Striving to avoid conventional memorial practices, or didactic strategies that would morbidly represent the past horror,…

Since 2014, India's Swaach Bharat Mission (Clean India), launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has garnered international attention for dispersing millions of toilets across the subcontinent. The five-year campaign goes much further, though, in the educational realm, where it attempts to make sustainable change through the country's national…

Schools have become ground zero for clashes over transgender rights, and critics are denouncing academic institutions--and more recently, the Obama administration--for supporting transgender students in their right to use restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity. This article responds to the seven most common claims made by…

This document includes two technical appendices that accompany the full report, "Improving K-12 School Facilities in California." The two appendixes include: (1) FIT Assessment Data; and (2) Supplemental Tables and Figures. [For the full report, "Improving K-12 School Facilities in California," see ED607958.]

At a Monday evening monthly meeting of school administrators, discussion ensued about how to improve the administrators' schools. Ideas such as increasing student achievement, energizing teachers, and engaging parents were offered. One principal suggested focus should be turned to the students' restrooms, "because lots of problems emerge…

The recent federal guidance and litigation on transgender students have increased public awareness of the legal rights of transgender students. Title IX regulations have long permitted school districts to segregate male and female students in separate but comparable toilet, shower, and locker room facilities, but the legal issue presented by…

Many stakeholders in the public and private sectors have been involved in establishing minimum accessibility standards for people with disabilities in public buildings. One of the most important spaces in any building is the restroom. Unless a building has a restroom that is compliant with applicable accessibility standards such as the Americans…

This report explores school climate for transgender and gender nonconforming youth in New York State since the passage of the Dignity Act. Telling the stories of real New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) clients, it documents the experiences of students facing discrimination. In some of these cases, the NYCLU was able to work with students to…

When focusing on public restroom sanitation, a facility manager needs to take into account several key factors. The No. 1 priority should be the safety of the people using the restrooms every day. Education institutions should make sure they are using chemicals that are not only effective, but also environmentally friendly; they should provide…

The one facility at school and university campuses guaranteed to be used by most everyone every day is the public restroom--a hub for germs and dirt. Applicants and their parents; visiting faculty and speakers; teachers and students--the variety of people who pass through a restroom and pass judgment is considerable. The impact is considerable…