The new single-use restrooms were converted from faculty-only facilities. Three are located on the first floor and two more are available on the second floor. All restrooms are handicap accessible and are available to any student throughout the school day.
“We simply reorganized some of our restrooms to give students more locations for privacy when utilizing the restroom,” P-T High School principal Tony Aquilio said.
These additions came a few weeks after an influx of petitions and Facebook posts over whether or not transgender students at the high school should be permitted to use the traditional restrooms for which they identify their gender.
P-T’s current restroom policy, following state and federal laws, allows transgender students to use whichever restroom aligns with their gender identity.
Under Title IX and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA), sex-based discrimination is prohibited. According to these laws, the definition of sex encompasses gender identity and expression.
“In Pennsylvania, both federal and state laws, as well as court decisions, protect the rights of students to use school facilities that correspond with their gender identity,” Aquilio said.
To prevent students from abusing the policy, Aquilio clarified that students must be going through changes or have undergone gender changes to use the restroom of the gender they identify as.
While restroom usage is determined based on gender identity, locker rooms are based on biological gender. Gym locker rooms are grouped with locker rooms, not restrooms, Aquilio said.
Following President Donald Trump’s executive order banning transgender girls and women from competing in female sports, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) updated their locker room usage to be based upon the gender assigned at birth, explained Aquilio.
The PIAA is acting under this presidential action from Jan. 20, 2025 that defined sex as an “individual’s immutable biological classification as either male or female.” The White House’s definition of sex “does not include the concept of gender identity.”
Currently, the P-T High School handbook does not mention gender-specific restrooms. If a new law or policy is passed, those revisions will be added during the summer, when the new handbook is approved by the school board.
Neither of the two P-T middle schools, Penn Middle School nor Trafford Middle School, have single-use restrooms.