In Texas, a high school has removed its bathroom doors out of concern for student safety amid rampant drug use.
Christina Steele Hantgin, the principal at Austin’s Travis Early College High School, sent a letter to parents explaining that the school was removing bathroom doors to combat drug use and other “code of conduct violations” in bathrooms.
“We have had multiple significant behavioral events along with other student code of conduct violations that have taken place in our restrooms already this year,” Hantgin wrote in a letter released to CBS Austin. “Our bathrooms were unsafe, and student incidents are evidence of this. Ninety percent of our drug offenses this year have taken place in the restrooms.”
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The principal apologized for failing to communicate the bathroom change before the door removal. She emphasized that her “number one priority is safety” and that door removal is one of several strategies the school is implementing to encourage safe conduct.
Hantgin claimed that there have not been any drug use or violent incidents since the school removed the doors.
The school tried locking restroom doors when they were not monitored but found that they were “inconvenient” for students because it forced them to walk further.
School bathrooms have become a point of contention over the last few years. The school bathroom in Loudoun County became the center of a recent political controversy after a teenager assaulted a ninth-grade girl inside the restroom.
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In June, the Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit after a student challenged in court whether Virginia could allow students to use bathrooms based on gender identity over biological sex.
A representative from Travis Early College High School or its district did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
