Perkiomen Valley School District retires controversial bathroom policy

Just months after a controversial bathroom policy -- that concerned which bathrooms or locker rooms students and faculty members are required to use at schools throughout the district -- was preserved, it has now been removed.

On Monday night, members of the Perkiomen Valley Board of School Directors, with a 6 to 3 vote, reversed a policy that was the subject of contention for months.

Some argued that students -- and others -- have the right to privacy in the bathrooms. While those on the other side of the argument made the case that transgender students have the right to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with.

The effort in question, called policy 720, was enacted back in October of last year and it had required "restrooms, locker rooms, and showers that are designated for one sex" only to be used by students and faculty members who were assigned that corresponding gender at birth.

The creation of the policy followed an earlier effort in the district to create "multi-user facilities" in September of last year, that had allowed transgender students to use facilities that aligned to the gender they identify with.

Claire Tremba, a junior at Perkiomen Valley High School told officials that students were scared due to the controversy over the issue.

"I would love to hear student voices more. I would love more roundtables, but I would just like to remind everyone that our students are scared," she said. " It's not as simple as a poll or a survey. Hearing someone's voice is not a yes or a no box on a Google form. So, just please consider that when you think about student voices. Consider that they are a human being, they are a child."

The policy will officially be retied Wednesday as the school is closed due to snow on Tuesday.

The school board president has told NBC10, however, that there will certainly be revisions later on.