Locked out: Some Allentown high school girls miss school during their periods

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — It’s a young girl's nightmare, to be at school and look down to find you’re bleeding through your clothes.

But that’s what’s at risk for students who menstruate at Building 21 High School in Allentown, according to some students and parents.

Linda Borrero has a sophomore at the school and says locked bathrooms means her child has sometimes missed school when she has gotten her period because she was afraid she would be unable to use the bathroom.

• Parents say bathrooms at Building 21 High School are sometimes closed all day, sometimes for a week or more
• Girls say they will sometimes skip class when on their menstrual cycle because of limited bathroom access
• Globally, period poverty causes girls to miss school

Borrero said her daughter, who asked not to be named, recently missed school because she was worried she wouldn’t have access to bathroom facilities during her period.

“They don’t have enough staff to watch the kids so they decided to just say we're going to just shut them down,” Borrero said.

Borrero and another Building 21 parent, Isa Rivera, said they believe bathrooms were closed due to safety concerns including vandalism, drug use and vaping. Borrero said said all of the bathrooms at Building 21 were closed for the last two weeks in March.  The bathrooms have since reopened, but she said access is still limited and unpredictable. She said she was told by Building 21’s parent liaison that the school doesn’t have enough staff to monitor the bathrooms.

The district disputes Borrero’s claim. Spokeswoman Melissa Reese said Building 21 has never locked all of the bathrooms in the school. Reese said bathrooms are sometimes locked due to repair issues like flooding.

“We are always looking to hire more maintenance staff, especially plumbers to ensure that we are addressing issues in a timely manner,” she said in an emailed statement.

Borrero said she stands by her assertions.

“The kids are lying?” she asked. “The school district was not there on March 27th when they were all closed. I personally turned a handle on a locked door. I asked a student, she said they are all closed, [that] it's been like that."

Building 21 High School Principal Jose Rosado did not respond to a request for comment. One Allentown school board member said she didn’t know anything about the situation, while the remainder either declined to comment or did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

‘Chaotic’ bathroom access

Rivera’s daughter, Illianys Deleon, describes bathroom access as “chaotic.”

“Bathrooms are closed for the whole day,” she said. “Sometimes they open certain bathrooms at a specific time. And then they closed them up again. [It] has been going on since last year.”

Deleon said she knows girls who skip school when they have their periods because bathroom access can be hit-or-miss.

“Some students do that if they don't know if they're gonna be able to make it to the bathroom in time and their period,” Deleon said.

Girls missing school when they get their period is a concern in some developing countries, but not one often discussed in Allentown. However, it is an issue across the U.S.

Seventy percent of U.S. students who menstruate between the ages of 13 and 19 say the school environment makes them especially self-conscious about their periods, and 65% do not want to be at school when they have their periods, according to the 2021 State of the Period report that was commissioned by Thinx, a company that makes feminine hygiene products,
and Period, a global advocacy group.

“Students do not think schools foster an environment in which they feel comfortable discussing periods or even attending class while they are on their periods,” the study said. “This stigma and lack of access can have a very real impact on a student’s education, especially for students of color and lower-income students who tend to be more impacted by lack of access to products.”

Anita Diamant, bestselling author of books including "The Red Tent" and "Period. End of Sentence.: A New Chapter in the Fight for Menstrual Justice" said it’s not right that a girl at Building 21 would feel the need to stay home from school because she might not be able to go to the bathroom to change her feminine hygiene products.

“It’s fairness, it’s humanity, it’s acknowledging that women bleed,” Diamant said. “Menstruating is part of human life, human reproduction. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Borrero said she spoke to Allentown schools Superintendent Carol Birks about the bathrooms being closed during a recent news conference on fair funding for public schools. She said Birks told her she hoped Borrero did not speak to the press about the bathroom issue.

Borrero said the bathrooms were re-opened at Building 21 the next day.

A request for a comment from Birks received no response.

Another approach

Bathroom security has been an ongoing issue at Lehigh Valley districts over the past few years, especially in 2021 when a viral TikTok challenge led to vandalism in bathrooms at multiple schools.

Easton Area High School Principal Kyle Geiger said officials developed a policy this school year to lock bathrooms on a limited basis during the day to crack down on kids attempting to skip class or going there to vape. The school serves nearly 3,000 students, which is much larger than Building 21, which has about 446 students, according to the latest data from the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Easton’s restrooms can be closed from about 50 to 70 minutes a day, which happens during five periods throughout the day between classes, he said. He said the high school changed its policy after the bathrooms were vandalized last year. The bathrooms are closed for about 10-15 minutes each passing period, when students are in the hall going to their next class. Once students are in class, the bathrooms are reopened and they can ask for a hall pass.

“The bathrooms are not closed all day,” Geiger said.

Security officers and administrators have the keys to the facilities. He said some parents did complain about the change, but he has not heard any complaints about girls needing more access to the bathrooms due to their periods. He said the female students can always access the bathrooms in the two nurses' offices if they need them during their menstrual cycles.

Geiger said there has been an increase in the number of visits to the nurse's offices since the bathrooms have been closed during passing periods, which is allowed if there is a health reason.

“If we have students with medical issues or anything that requires frequent bathroom use, they are able and directed to utilize our nurse's office,” he said.

Bathroom access vs. school safety

Jeani Garcia, zero youth violence coordinator with Promise Neighborhoods in Allentown, said students being able to use the bathroom, especially when a girl is menstruating, is a human rights issue. But she also said the school district has to keep students safe, even if that means locking bathrooms.

Garcia said having a bathroom open could be a safety issue if there are guns in the bathroom or students fighting in there.

“We need to find a way to combat both,” Garcia said. “I want my child safe and I want her to be able to use the bathroom when she is menstruating, I want both.”

Borrero said she hopes the school district won’t see her as a troublemaker. She said she’s worried about retaliation from school officials. She is exhausted, but she’s standing up for her daughter, she said.

“I just don’t even know what to do other than keep working on my daughter to finish the last two years she has there,” Borrero said.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify that Isa Rivera did not say her daughter had missed school due to lack of bathroom access.