Parents at a Catholic school in the United Kingdom are keeping their kids home from school in fury and protest after the school decided to remove the front wall from the girls' bathroom. While the school has yet to comment on the situation, many of the parents are speaking out about the "disgusting" decision.
St. Mary's College in Wallasey, England, is under heavy fire after its decision to remove the front wall of a girls' bathroom in the school went viral.
The school is open to students ages 11 through 19. A video sent to the Independent clearly shows the bathroom devoid of a privacy wall. While each stall does have a closable door, anyone walking past can see clearly inside the bathroom. Additionally, video footage shows that a security camera is stationed on the ceiling across from the bathroom, clearly facing the stalls.
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The Liverpool Echo reports that students believe the wall was removed to stop kids from bullying, smoking, and skipping class.
While these changes would certainly prohibit girls from hiding out in the bathroom during school, many parents feel that it is a major invasion of privacy, prompting them to take their children out of school until the matter is resolved.
Many have taken to social media to share their anger.
"This is not a solution," said one Twitter user. "Kids deserve privacy."
Some stated St. Mary's decision to remove the wall was too extreme.
“If the problem is bullying, smoking, and skipping class they could have approached it in so many other ways," mom Tara Hodgson Jones told the Independent. "My daughter was bullied in year 10 and that was in the classroom, the yard, and the lunch hall, so thinking that taking a toilet wall down will stop it is stupid."
Still, not everyone disagrees with the school's methods.
Some actually believe that the lack of a bathroom wall might result in the girls being "safer" despite their initial discomfort.
It has also been pointed out that St. Mary's isn't the first to do this.
"I actually think it's a good idea if a school has issues with bullying that quite often happens out of sight of the teachers," wrote one Facebook user.
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Some simply said the offended parents were being too sensitive.
Even after facing criticism, parents of many attending students aren't backing down.
"They clearly haven't considered what girls past puberty have to deal with, so to have only one door for privacy without the added security of a room is terrible," said Hodgson Jones. "There are classrooms opposite the toilets, there is even a camera facing them — for girls between the ages of 11-16 it's unacceptable.”
So far, St. Mary's has yet to release a statement addressing parents' concerns.
