CV NEWS FEED // A month and a half after hundreds of Pennsylvania students walked out of school in protest against a pro-“trans” policy permitting boys in the girls’ bathrooms, students at a school in neighboring Ohio did the same.
Early Monday afternoon, dozens of students walked out of class at Elida High School in northwestern Ohio to protest the school district’s so-called “anti-discrimination policy,” which allows male students to use the girls’ bathrooms.
According to The Lima News, an initial group of demonstrating students “were joined by parents and concerned community members, who cheered and prayed outside the school for an end to” what they referred to as “this evil.”
“Dozens of other students walked out 20 minutes later,” The Lima News added.
“We’re upset about biological boys in the girls’ bathroom,” said Charisma Akroye, a freshman at Elida who participated walkout. “The school board hasn’t been listening.”
According to Akroye, there have “been multiple accounts of boys coming in the bathroom” and “bothering the girls in there.” She said that many of these boys claimed that they were “transgender girls.”
“We’re just not for it,” she said. “Biological boys need to stay in their own bathroom.”
Akroye was part of the group of students that began the walkout. Her surname was recorded as “Akroyd” by some sources.
The president of the Elida Local School District Board of Education argued that the policy was required by federal law, a claim that many concerned parents contested.
The district’s superintendent, Joel Mengerink, threatened the students with detention if they did not return to class after walking out.
“Encouraging students to participate in a walkout causes a lot of safety concerns on our part not knowing who’s outside with them, especially when we just experienced a social media threat last week,” he said.
In September, an even greater number of students walked out of a high school belonging to the Perkiomen Valley School District in the Philadelphia suburbs. The students were protesting a similar bathroom policy.
“Girls… we wanted to protect them,” said student John Ott at the time. “They were upset. They didn’t want men in their bathroom.” Ott organized the massive protest.
“It’s just uncomfortable seeing 19-year-old men or 18-year-old men in the bathroom,” agreed Ott’s classmate, Victoria Rudolph.
Weeks after the walkout, the Perkiomen Valley School Board voted 5-4 to change the policy, and prohibit boys from using the girl’s bathroom.
