Claudette Riley

CRILEY@NEWS-LEADER.COM

It was the call Lyle Howard's mom hoped would come.

The sophomore, who came out as transgender in eighth grade, has been seeking access to a boys bathroom at Ozark High School. Top district officials, unwilling to go quite that far, have been looking for another solution.

This week, Ozark Superintendent Kevin Patterson called the Howard family to report that the school board signed off on renovating two staff restrooms on the second floor into private "unisex" restrooms usable by students who request special access.

"I thought this was going to be a bitter fight to the end," Meghan Howard, Lyle's mom, told the News-Leader this week. "Way to go Ozark for being progressive and inclusive."

Two months ago, Lyle Howard said he was entering the boys bathroom at Ozark High School — something he acknowledged he had done almost every day this school year — when a classmate began screaming "There's a girl in the boys bathroom."

A series of meetings and calls followed between Ozark school officials and the Howard family. The teen was offered access to the nurse's restroom at the front of the school or the private staff restroom inside the girls restroom.

Lyle wanted to be able to use the boys bathroom or, at the least, the private staff restroom inside the boys restroom. Neither request was granted.

Patterson said he was committed to coming up with a solution that met the needs of all students, including Lyle. To get started, he said, "we walked around and looked at all the bathrooms we had at the high school."

There are a set of boys and girls restrooms on each floor of the three-story high school. Inside each set, there is a private staff restroom for that gender that is right inside the door, sharing a wall with the hallway.

On April 18, the school board voted unanimously to renovate the private staff restrooms on the second floor with doors that open to the hallway and electronic locks that students can access with a fob.

"If you are on the top floor, you come down one floor and if you are on the bottom, you come up a floor," Patterson said. "They are close to the classrooms."

Both restrooms will be "unisex," meaning they can be accessed by students and staff of either gender, and there will be an "in use" light when they are occupied. The existing door, which faces either the boys or girls bathroom, will be retrofitted with a double-lock so it cannot be easily accessed from inside either of the gender-specific restrooms.

"We thought without much expense we could cut a door that goes to the hallway," Patterson said.

Patterson said Friday that to his knowledge, Lyle Howard is the only high school student currently enrolled who has asked for this accommodation. But others will also have access if they request it.

"We'd make them available to any student who has a special need," he said.

According to the board agenda, the cost of renovating each restroom is expected to be $10,095. The money will come from the capital projects budget.

"I'm looking forward to the completion of the unisex bathrooms, and I hope they do the same with all of the staff bathrooms," said Meghan Howard.

Patterson said work will start as soon as the school year ends with the goal of having one compete by the start of summer classes and the other by the start of fall classes.

"We were trying to honor the beliefs of our community as well as protect our kids and do what is right for each child," Patterson said. "...That has been our goal all along, to meet the needs of all of our students."