Montclair School District Rolls Out ‘All-Gender Restrooms’

MONTCLAIR, NJ — The Montclair Public School District is rolling out a new initiative this year: “all-gender restrooms” in each building.

Superintendent Kendra Johnson alerted local parents and guardians about the restroom changes as part of a “Welcome Back” letter sent at the beginning of the school year. According to Johnson, 2018-19 will be the first year that the district has at least one “all-gender” restroom in each school building.

Some of the all-gender restrooms will be a single-stall; others will have multi-stalls. A gender-neutral restroom was installed at Montclair High School last year, Montclair Local reported.

The initiative is part of the district’s ongoing “LGBTQA+ Knowledge and Awareness Training,” Johnson stated.

According to Johnson:

“We engaged in one year of districtwide training with Hudson Pride. This year we started our administrative retreat with a training led by a staff member from Garden State Equality. We will continue this work with our school community.”

Garden State Equality, which was formerly based in Montclair, praised the school district’s decision on social media:

“Big thanks to Montclair School District administrators, teachers, and staff, and to all of the parents in Montclair who worked on this awesome initiative.”

BUILDING AN ‘INCLUSIVE’ SCHOOL COMMUNITY

According to Johnson’s Aug. 30 letter, other initiatives being taken in the district include:

Employee Self-Care - "We are advancing a district-wide effort that emphasizes the importance of self-care. I firmly believe that if our staff members make intentional efforts to care for themselves, they will be in a better position to care for our students. Public education has become extremely complex; therefore, educators must be supported in order to openly receive and thoughtfully, effectively and compassionately respond to our textured public education landscape. When we know how to take care of ourselves well, we are able to take care of others well."

Restorative Justice Training - "In collaboration with the Montclair Education Association (MEA), we now have a Restorative Justice curriculum and a Restorative Justice educator who is leading our districtwide focus in this arena. Four Restorative Justice workshops are slated for the 2018-2019 school year. Each workshop will consist of four days of comprehensive training. From this work, we will have 100 district and community members trained to facilitate Restorative Justice."

Ongoing Anti-Racist Training - "The vast majority of our staff participated in two-day Undoing Racism Staff not trained during the last three years will receive race-equity training. Furthermore, our Student Equity Advocate may assume responsibility for in-district equity professional development."

Ongoing Emotional Health Training - "We engaged in one year of district-wide emotional health training. This year we started our administrative retreat with a training on trauma and how trauma impacts our students’ ability to attend to learning experiences in classrooms. We will continue this work with district staff, and hopefully, engage in community workshops to further advance our knowledge and understanding relative to this topic."

Nutritional Access - "To ensure each student has access to meals during the school day, I am respectfully asking all families to complete the Free and Reduced Meals (FARMS) application. By completing the application, parents/guardians will be able to ensure that if their child is eligible for free or reduced meals, he/she/they receive such. Additionally, students who are eligible for FARMS are also eligible for SAT/ACT and college application waivers. If an active and approved application is not on file, these waivers will not be valid. Lastly, the district receives additional funding based on the number of students who participate in the FARMS program. Our current district FARMS rate is 16.8%. Regrettably, we do not believe this number accurately represents our true numbers. Therefore, I request your completion of the application. Approval for participation in the program does not mean your child has to participate, but it certainly gives your child the option. Link to the online application here."

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