Recently, Upper Arlington High School students may have noticed that paper signs have been placed over bathroom signs. These signs have been put over the all gender bathrooms and read “single occupancy.” This change is a result of the implementation of Senate Bill 104 (SB 104), known as the Protect All Students Act or more commonly referred to as a “Bathroom Bill.”
SB 104 prevents schools from having all-gender multi-occupancy bathrooms.
“No school shall construct, establish, or maintain a multi-occupancy facility that is designated as nongendered, multigendered, or open to all genders,” it reads.
Some of UAHS’ bathrooms were previously labeled “all gender”, to indicate that they could all be used by every student regardless of their gender identity or assigned sex. This signage ran afoul of the new law, which is why it had to be changed.
SB 104 was signed on Nov. 27, 2024 and was implemented on Feb. 25, 2025. On Feb. 11, 2025, the UA School Board adopted a new policy in order to comply with the new law. Jenny McKenna, president of the UA school board, explained the change.
“At the high school, we had some bathrooms that were labeled ‘all gender,’ and I think that was in conflict with the state law,” said McKenna. “So we changed the signage to say ‘single occupancy.’”
McKenna stressed that changes made due to SB 104 are not likely to have a large impact on students, and that administrators would work with impacted students individually.
“I would imagine that at the high school there’s probably not a lot of change in how those bathrooms are being used,” she said. “For some of our [transgender] students, they would have to work with the administration of those buildings to make sure that the bathroom they are using is safe and comfortable.”
Upper Arlington resident, Susan Miller, praised the school board for its response to the passage of SB 104.
“I think the Upper Arlington [School] Board did a very brave thing in simply changing the signage to single-use occupancy bathrooms,” she said. “Other districts have done differently and I think our district is very brave on this.”
Another recent piece of legislation is House Bill 8 (HB 8), known as the Parents’ Bill of Rights to supporters and the “Don’t Say Gay” Bill to opponents. HB 8 requires schools to allow off-site religious education during school hours, limits instruction on sexuality for young students and requires schools to inform parents if there are any changes in their child’s gender identity. It was passed on Jan. 8 2025, yet districts are not required to be in compliance with HB 8 until April 9, 2025. The district is currently working on how to address the law, although final policy decisions will likely not be made for months.
“We are working through implications of what that means, training that we would have to do for our staff and preparations as we go through into next year,” said Robert Hunt, UAHS’ superintendent.
McKenna elaborated that the board is not addressing HB 8 until closer to the deadline.
“I have not gotten down into the details because we don’t have to implement it yet. That will probably happen in April and May for us,” she said. “Our job is always to be compliant with state and federal law, and so we will always make sure to do that.”
Regardless of how the district ends up implementing HB 8, many Ohioans have concerns over the impact the law may have on LGBTQ+ students.
“I feel like a lot of harm [will] come to our kids that don’t identify as one sex or the other. I’m very concerned about how this is going to be enforced. I just think this is another one of those things where they’re trying to address a problem that doesn’t exist,” Miller said. “It just further marginalizes the already marginalized kids.”
Ohioans can likely expect more laws in the coming years that restrict the prevalence of LGBTQ+ issues in public education, along with more debate regarding their impact and efficacy. Miller shared her concerns that UA residents are not paying enough attention to these laws.
“My impression of Upper Arlington is that they do not believe that any of that is happening here,” Miller said. “We aren’t going to do anything because it just doesn’t happen here.”
