cc0493da4b3f47dee258ab3b23d32aae

Mandy Schoen13min

Speaker 1

00:08

Hello patriots, welcome back to your second episode of the PGA chat. I'm your host Mandy Schoen, and I hope you enjoy the episode. As for news, our girls soccer team has gone six and Oh, so that's really exciting, and I really hope they go far in playoffs this year. October is always a super busy month. We have the PSAT on October 13. And we have homecoming on October 16. This might have already passed by the time I'm uploading this. So the main focus of this episode is a really hot topic at Rouen High School. And that is bathrooms, if you didn't already know wouldn't added, I think to gender neutral bathrooms. This year, they're brand new, redone super clean. And I think it's a really great addition to the school. But with the addition of gender neutral bathrooms caused the shift of some other bathrooms including one of the most popular girl bathrooms is now a staff bathroom. I didn't know it was a staff bathroom, and I still use it every single day because it's not locked. and a bunch of other girls still use it but the server also using it. So I thought that was really interesting. I wasn't sure what was going on there. So I decided to interview Miss de la Rosa, the business administrator to get to the bottom of it. The Santa Rosa is new tune this year, and she's actually near her due dates. If you see her in the hallway, make sure to congratulate her. Hi, Miss Dela Rosa, I know you are new to the school, so has your transition to when been in your experience as a new staff member

Speaker 2

02:01

transitions being great here. I am coming over from Richie Park Elementary School as an administrative secretary. So the ins and outs of the position are pretty standard that I've been learning. But I've just been really enjoying getting to know the new staff members and I'm really glad to be part of the Whitman

Speaker 1

02:23

team. We are glad to have you. So my first question is what prompted the change of adding additional gender neutral bathrooms to the school and where are they currently located.

Speaker 2

02:33

So I wasn't part of the original decision to add gender neutral bathrooms. But I can only imagine that it's just to make sure that all students feel included and have a space a safe space that they feel like they can use the bathroom and they're currently located. One is on the first floor by the classrooms 180 and the second one is on the second floor by the classrooms to 38

Speaker 1

03:01

paid that's a super vital addition to our school. He was out of the shift what other alterations were made to the bathrooms around the school.

Speaker 2

03:10

So in order to facilitate the gender neutral bathrooms, we had to remove some staff bathrooms or transform the staff bathrooms into the student gender neutral bathrooms. So the upstairs bathroom was a neutral staff bathroom, which we didn't have to change or add anything into in order to accommodate for staff use. But downstairs we removed a female staff bathroom and transformed that one into the gender neutral bathroom, which then we had to transition a different or we had to identify a new location for the female staff bathroom since we have so many female staff in the building. And with that we had to make sure that we had a prime location that was would allow the staff to access the bathrooms in between classes. So that is why we had to transition a student female bathroom by room 160 I believe and to a female staff bathroom to accommodate the teachers bathrooms use. So at this time, we are we have a staff sign that on the bathroom so it hasn't been fully transitioned yet we are still waiting on the sign to go up and the locks to be changed on the doors to make it I fully staff that

Speaker 1

04:41

got it. So many students continue to use this bathroom near the special ed hallway because it has a full length mirror and because there's simply unaware of the change. In fact, I actually just used it on my way over here. What are your thoughts on this? Would you ever consider converting a less popular bathroom instead? Then, and how are you going to stop spread information so that people don't continue to use this bathroom if it's for staff use only

Speaker 2

05:10

do we have been putting out information about the gender neutral bathrooms and the changes in the bathrooms regarding the addition or the transformation of that bathroom into this female staff bathroom within the Patriots news. But, like I said, we're in transition of fully developing that bathroom into a staff bathroom by changing the locks on the doors and changing the identification tag outside of the bathroom. So it will be more identifiable as a staff bathroom. But unfortunately, I do I do understand that this is a very popular bathroom. But location is key when it comes to staff use. So we needed to, we needed to make sure that the staff bathroom that we were transitioning was in a centralized location that a lot of the first other staff members on the first floor could access in between their classes, you have to understand that the staff are dealing with students that they're still running into, and they don't have much time in between classes to then step out do as they need and then come back to their classrooms.

Speaker 1

06:27

That makes total sense. I thank you so much for your time and for information. And I hope you have a great day.

Speaker 2

06:34

Thank you for this opportunity as I was enjoyed speaking with you today and please feel free to come back if you have any more questions.

Speaker 1

06:44

To finish off this episode. I thought I'd do some in person investigative journalism and really do the dirty work that everyone wants to know. So I visited every single bathroom in the school and this is my ranking of the top 11 bathrooms because there were only 11 girls bathrooms to begin with. In 11th Place the girls will use it I'm I am only covering the girls restrooms because I could not enter the male ones girls and gender 11 Please, the restrooms near 242. So top floor and if you're walking down that hallway like on the left, these are the worst bathrooms in the school. They smell so bad and there's not a single mirror in the bathroom. So these bathrooms are just a waste of space. In 10th place we have the bathrooms near 206. I don't really like these bathrooms at least they have mirrors but they smell weird. And they're really small and they're always crowded because it's like the only bathroom in that hallway in the science area. So that's why it's 10th place. In ninth place we have the locker room bathrooms. These bathrooms are fine like they do their job but whenever I use them which is before sports, it's always super crowded. And they for a while one of the stalls wasn't closing. So that's why it gets ninth in eighth. We have the bathrooms near 293 Okay, these bathrooms are very underrated. This is the first time I've ever been in this bathroom. And it's kind of I mean it wouldn't be a great bathroom because it's not as new as the others but it's in a out of the way location so it's not busy so it's really clean and it has good mirrors so this is to the left of the signs away. If you're facing the back of the school, if that makes any sense at all. In seventh place we have the bathroom near 258 which is the upstairs full length mirror. This is just always a go to classic bathroom. Perfect for me or pictures got to love the full length we're in sixth place we have the bathroom directly below that. The one that's now a staff bathroom near the 160s and this bathroom has always been my go to bathroom I go there every single day but now it's a staff bathroom so that's why it's in sixth place. It's also not the cleanest because a lot of people will use it but it's just iconic. In fifth place we have the gender neutral bathroom near 242. This bathroom is good It's really clean. But the reason it got fifth is because there's only one stall. So someone's using it, that's that. And it's also not in like a prime location because there's really no classrooms in that hallway. And in fourth place, we have a new bathroom that I also did not know about 188. If you go to the

Speaker 1

10:25

staff bathroom, like the one that just became a staff bathroom, and you just go straight down the hallway, like on the way to the auditorium, you'll run into this bathroom and is very good. It has a full length mirror, it has four mirrors, and all the supplies are there, barely any people use it. And it's in a pretty good location. And I didn't even know about it until now. So keep an eye out for that one. In third place, we have 180, which is the second gender neutral bathroom. This is close to the staff bathroom and the 188 bathroom, it's kind of in the middle. It's really clean, pretty good location. But there is again only one stall. So that's why I got third. In second place. We have the auditorium bathroom. I have not been there since I was in middle school going to my sister's plays. But on this journey, I went to this bathroom and let me tell you it is like a mansion in there, like double the size of any other bathroom. And when I went into that bathroom, I was the first person to enter it the whole day. So that is definitely a plus. The only downside is that though was the bathroom are extremely low. But there's no one else using it. So go ahead also, it's really, really, really out of the way because nothing is near there. But if you ever want some privacy, go to the auditorium bathroom. And number one, my favorite bathroom in the school is the cafeteria bathroom. I just love this bathroom, because it's not in the best location, but it has so many mirrors has like multiple folding mirrors. And everything is new and people barely use it. I don't know why something about the cafeteria bathroom, I just really enjoy it. And not many people know about it, except when I went to go check it out on my journey it was locked. So I don't know if that's a permanent thing or not. I'm gonna have to get back to you on that. But that is my ranking of topple of ambassadors. And I hope you take that into account the next time you need to use. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of The Patriot chat. As always, I'm your host Mandy Schoen and I will see you next month.

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