Vernon, Florida City Council Chairman Joey Brock made an impassioned plea to the Washington County, Florida School Board on Monday, March 9, 2020 in a regular session of the board.
‘I’ve got a problem’, started Brock during the public input segment of the meeting, ‘and it’s that our young girls have to walk through the boy’s weight room to be able to use the restroom facilities at the Vernon school softball fields’, said Brock, ‘and I feel that you are opening yourself up to a potential lawsuit’.
‘I have a 14 year-old daughter and I sure don’t want her to have to walk through a group of young men, some of whom are not even students at the school, to get to the restrooms’, continued Brock.
Brock’s issue with the School District stems from the absence of a dedicated ladies restroom facility at the ball fields used by the Vernon softball teams, in practice sessions, regular games or tournaments.
Brock was followed at the podium by Greta Drayyom, longtime teacher at Roulhac Middle School in Chipley, who expressed concern for the safety of children when attending the downtown Chipley Homecoming Parade.
‘We have to shuttle our students to this type of off-campus parade’, said Drayyom, ‘and the students end up standing on the city sidewalks, right next to fast-moving traffic, for extended periods of time’.
‘Last year we had a gentleman stop in traffic to express his concern’, said Drayyon, ‘and fortunately he was not a threat, but that easily could have been a different outcome, from a safety perspective’.
The school board thanked Brock and Drayyom for their comments.
