Updated restrooms planned for Hampton High School

The second phase of renovations to Hampton High School includes an aspect that could benefit the community at large.

Part of the project involves updating two sets of restrooms, near the auditorium and cafeteria, with the intent of better accommodating public events by increasing the number of fixtures while veering away from gender-related designations.

Cassandra Renninger of DRAW Collective, the Mt. Lebanon architecture firm working on the overall renovation project since its inception, described such a scenario during the school board’s Sept. 3 work session.

“All of the fixtures are available to everyone, and we’re not limited by cutting the fixtures in half and calling half of them female fixtures and half of them male fixtures,” Renninger, a principal with the firm, said. “If there happens to be a higher demand for women’s fixtures, they all become available to everyone.”

The setup would feature “walled compartments for each toilet and common sink areas,” she explained, with privacy ensured by full-length doors and locks to indicate “occupied” or “unoccupied.” Reconfigured sink areas would allow for added supervision, visually from adjacent hallways and on camera, according to Renninger.

“It is something that is happening across the country but also very much locally. We have several common bathroom areas that have been installed in other districts in your area,” she said, citing Riverview, Carlynton and Beaver County’s South Side Area as being either in place or in progress.

Hampton board members discussed the possibility during committee meetings and agreed on proceeding in that general manner.

Board member Matt Jarrell, though, questioned whether the approach is effective for “lots of people that include teenagers.”

“I’m imagining a teenage boy and a teenage girl walking into these self-contained stalls on their own, and then in six or seven minutes, walking out and looking at each other and realizing what just happened, and it just kind of ruins the …,” he said, not finishing the observation.

Superintendent Michael Loughead acknowledged the potential for embarrassment, but he noted some positives, especially regarding communal sink areas.

“Students actually feel safer in these spaces that are public, because nothing could happen to them there,” he said, with less potential for bullying compared with “what could happen behind doors.”

Hampton High School already has five unisex bathrooms, located in the addition that opened in February 2023 as part of the first phase of renovations. Each stall has a sink in addition to a toilet, and an area for washing hands is nearby.

“Feedback from the custodial pool seems to be that the boys and girls seem to be treating them respectfully,” Loughead said. “There’s not an undue amount of cleaning going on there.”

As for the restrooms that will be updated, Renninger touted their ability to serve well-attended events.

“We’ve basically doubled the number of fixtures, and on top of that, with them not being designated as a gender,” she said, “there’s a lot more capacity for folks who are waiting in line.”

She discussed the timeline for high school renovation project’s second phase, much of which addresses bringing the 56-year-old building in line with 21st-century educational practices and safety considerations.

“We’re looking to have the 100% design development drawings over to PJ Dick at the end of the month. They’ll have about three weeks, plus or minus, to do their cost estimate,” she said regarding activity by the project’s construction management firm. “And then we’ll have some conversation about where those numbers are.

“Assuming that everything goes well with the cost estimate and what comes next, we’re still targeting to be out to bid mid-February, which would put you to at receiving bids in March and then awarding contracts in April,” Renninger continued, with groundbreaking in late spring or early summer.

The total Phase II cost is estimated at a maximum of about $32 million, according to Loughead. The district plans a third phase, the timing of which has yet to be determined.