Restrooms Information

January 2023 Update:

The UASD will revisit the Windermere bathroom variance in spring.  The Board Resolution from May 2021 directs the Superintendent to apply for a variance for all school buildings.  That has been put on hold for now, and the Windermere variance has not been instituted.  Below is the email from Board President Lori Trent to Paul Imhoff to wait until spring.

From: Lori Trent <ltrent@uaschools.org>
Date: Wed, Aug 10, 2022 at 3:02 PM
Subject: Windermere Variance
To: Paul Imhoff <pimhoff@uaschools.org>

Hi Paul – I am writing to confirm the conversation we had that you are directed to wait on re-submitting applications for all-gender restrooms to the City for school buildings in the District.  As we discussed, it is important for our students to have consistency this year as compared to last school year, so we do not want to be making any changes this school year.  We should revisit this issue in the spring and gather input from our school community.  Please share this directive with the Chief Operating Officer. 

 
Thank you and let me know if you have any questions. Lori

 

September 2022 Update:

The Ohio Board of Building Appeals (OBBA) voted to approve the variance for Windermere Elementary because of the Court mandated them to do this.  Paul Beegan, the Registered Architect of the OBBA, resigned his post of 13 years rather than be told by the Court how to vote.  You can read the Transcript from the April 26th Hearing.  It describes in detail how we got to this point. 220426-BBA-Case20-0051-ARC

 

May 2022 Update:

The UA School District won their case on Appeal.  The Appeals Court found that the Windermere family did not have standing, so the case was sent back to the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas and Judge Sheryl Munson.  Instead of ruling on the variance, Judge Munson remanded the case back to the Ohio Board of Building Appeals (OBBA) to vote for the Variance.  (The Ohio Board of Building of Appeals originally rejected the Variance requested by the UA schools back in June 2020.)

There was an OBBA hearing last month on April 26, 2022, and one of the Board members read a scathing statement about the UA School District and the City of UA Building Department.  You can watch the hearing at this link:

April 26th Hearing – Upper Arlington Bathroom Case

Paul Beegan, the Registered Architect on the OBBA Board, describes many points where he feels the Board and the Courts were misled by the UA School District.  In addition, he states that he will resign before he votes yes on the Variance.  After discussion, the OBBA Board continues the motion and tells the UA School District attorney to go back to Judge Munson and ask her to grant the variance.  Beegan is filing a complaint with  the Ohio School Board Association against the UA Board of Education, and he is filing a complaint against the UA City Building Department with the Ohio Board of Building Standards.  According to Beegan, the City of Upper Arlington did not have the power to use the court ruling on Windermere and apply it to the other elementary schools.

Quotes from Mr. Beegan:

“One last point about the June 2020 hearing before the Ohio BBA.  The testimony provided was MISLEADING (emphasis added) regarding the involvement of the parents in the UA School District for this particular issue . . .They did not testify that this issue was discussed with parents in any meaningful way nor that this particular issue was reviewed and approved by parents.  The fact that a parent group tried to intercede into the subsequent Joint Motion for Summary Judgment emphasizes this opinion.”

“I think the Motion (for Summary Judgment) was misleading to the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. In particular, they filed Exhibit A – Stipulation of Facts are not factual and are really just stipulations of Opinion and in some of the stipulations they are misleading.”

Porter Welch, an attorney on the Ohio Board of Building Appeals said this:

“In the least offensive terms we can say there was probably a mischaracterization of what transpired in the hearing here of 2020 and probably in the strongest terms it was a fraud upon the court in terms of what was presented.  Somewhere in between is an accurate adjective to describe what transpired in the Court of Common Please.  So that being said . . . Ask Judge Munson to issue the order that you want because she has that authority.”

 

For those interested in the History and information about the ONLY Gender Neutral Bathrooms in the new schools, you can find the history and the documents below.  The School District needs to start acting with Transparency and Integrity.

For years the District has taken care of every student who needed a separate bathroom facility.  We applaud the way the District dealt with the situation in the past. Bathroom choice was available to ALL students.

Currently the District has labeled the new bathrooms in their renovated and new schools as ONLY Gender Neutral.  Our children do not have a CHOICE in which bathroom to use.  Boys and Girls share a bathroom area.  This is against Ohio Building Code.

After the Building Levy passed, the District instituted a Master Plan Design Phase.  The Community was involved in the Designing of the new schools.  Here is a link to the District’s website: Design Phase Overview

Watch the videos of the Community Meetings.  Having ONLY Gender Neutral bathrooms are not part of the presentations: Community Meetings

There were Building Committees for each school.  Having ONLY Gender Neutral bathrooms was not discussed.  The Elementary Committees were shown pictures of Private Toilet Rooms.  They were not discussed as a group as being ONLY Gender Neutral.

Hover over “Restrooms” on the menu above and see the choices of additional pages of resources.  Or you can click on the link embedded below.

The Original Architectural Plans approved by the UA School Board included Boy Bathrooms/Girl Bathrooms and Gender Neutral Bathrooms: UA School Board Votes

The City of Upper Arlington’s Building Department uploads Architectural Drawings, and you can also find Conditional Approval Documents: UA Building Dept Links

Franklin County Court of Common Pleas has Documents relative to the case: Court Documents

The City of UA refuses to enforce the Building Code!  Each school is in violation of the Ohio Building Code.  Please click on this link to send your opinion: City Manager

Click on this page to see more details of the City’s actions: City Refuses to Enforce Code

After reading these documents, you might have questions for the Superintendent and the School Board.  Click here for questions that they have failed to adequately answer: Questions

To Contact the Board or Superintendent:  Click here: Superintendent

To Contact the School Board:  Click here: UA School Board

For Kids. For Inclusion. For Common Sense.


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