Lubbock Parent Claims Middle School Removed Locks From Bathroom Stall Doors

A friend of mine posted a status the other day about her son's experience at Lubbock-Cooper Middle School and claimed there are no locks on the doors of most boy's bathroom stalls.

Here's her Facebook post:

I reached out to her for more information on the situation and she told me that the locks had been purposely removed from the boy's bathroom stalls due to some bad behavior in the restrooms perpetrated by a few students.

My friend is concerned for her son's privacy at school and uncomfortable with the situation. She told me her son can't lock the door when he uses the bathroom, and in some classes, students are apparently encouraged not to use the bathroom. They're offered bonus grades if they don't go to the bathroom at all during a class.

"Several teachers used the 'if you don't use any bathroom passes you get a free grade' thing," she said. "If there are a bunch of boys bothering each other in the bathroom during lunch and passing period, when else are they supposed to go? Also, my son was told that they were removed on purpose because some boys were vaping in the stalls or whatever. I'm just like, it's a vape. They can do that anywhere."

A handful of people commented on her original post, but the first comment struck me immediately. It read: "In New Deal, we didn't have doors on our restroom stalls."

I was flooded with memories from when I was a kid. The rare sight of the inside of a boy's restroom at my elementary school really confused me, too. There were no doors on the stalls, and I remembered wondering how uncomfortable it must be to use the restroom in peace among other students.

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Privacy in the bathroom is something that everyone can agree is important. I cannot imagine being a middle school boy and not being able to lock the bathroom stall when other rowdy guys were in there, joking around, opening the doors, harassing you, or any other thing that might occur. Have you met preteen boys? They're awful.

I called the middle school and asked why the boy's restrooms did not have locks on the doors. They were not immediately available for comments, so I left my email address and phone number with the office clerk.

I received a call moments later, and the clerk explained to me that the maintenance department claimed "there is only one stall with a missing lock. All of the other stalls have locks. I don't think this is quite as big of a story as you thought it might be."

We have not independently verified the current state of the locks in the bathroom, and the school did not offer visual evidence to counter the mom's claims.

I'm still very skeptical. I remember similar scenarios from when I was in school, and I wonder if there is some truth to her son's story. It doesn't sound like a far stretch to me.

Were there locks and doors on your bathroom stalls in school? Tell us in a comment below or on our Facebook page.