Golden Grove High School toilet doors will be returned while Modbury High misses out

The stink over the removal of toilet doors – and student privacy – at state schools has ramped up, with just one site set to comply immediately with orders to reinstate them.

The Education Department has vowed to return doors to loos at Golden Grove High School, but Modbury High is holding firm on its decision to ban them.

And a third school has become embroiled in the controversy, with claims Parafield Gardens High has removed its external toilet doors, exposing inside cubicles to passers-by.

At Golden Grove on Wednesday, parents, caregivers and students became upset at reports that the school would not comply with the government’s order.

It sparked a backlash from angry students, who allegedly tripped a smoke alarm, triggering an emergency visit from the fire brigade.

An MFS spokesperson said two trucks arrived at the school at about 12.14pm and promptly left after an investigation showed a private alarm had gone off but no fire was detected.

According to several students and parents from the school, it was not just smoke raising alarms in the toilets.

Fire trucks attend Golden Grove High School after a smoke alarm was set off in the school's toilets. Picture: Supplied

Two 15-year-old students, who have not been named to protect their privacy, told The Messenger vaping in the toilets had gotten out of hand with groups of eight or more congregating in the toilets at any one time.

“You can walk past the toilets and it has a fruity vape smell,” one of the students said.

“Each toilet block, I swear, has a different designated smell,” the other said.

They said despite the doors being removed vaping remained an issue with several students still vaping in the toilets.

Their claims were at odds with the Education Department who provided figures on the number of vaping incidents reported in SA state schools this year.

A spokesperson confirmed just eight notifications of vaping in all SA state school toilets had been made so far in 2022.

Alongside those eight notifications, the spokesperson said there had been a further five reports of assaults occurring in toilet areas.

Meanwhile, parents of Modbury High School students continue to refute the schools claims urinals cannot be seen from school hallways.

Modbury High School, pictured, sent letters to parents assuring them privacy was being protected. Picture: Supplied

A photo of the Modbury High School toilets that parents say is from Tuesday. Picture: Supplied

Correspondence from that school, viewed by The Messenger, was sent to all parents and caregivers addressing reporting on the school’s lack of toilet doors.

“The Governing Council chair (parent) inspected the toilets after the removal of the doors and was satisfied it did not encroach on students’ privacy,” principal Joanne Costa wrote.

“Since removing the corridor toilet doors vandalism and any incidents of bullying and harassment which have previously taken place have considerably reduced.”

Pictures from today show Golden Grove High School has not replaced the doors but has replaced the gender signage. Picture: Supplied

Ms Costa said urinals were “behind a partition wall” and not visible from corridors.

A third school, Parafield Gardens High School, was also understood to be without external toilet doors.

Two parents, who chose to remain anonymous, said their children had complained to them about the lack of doors.

They both said their children had opted to use toilets further from their classrooms but had been “told off” after their trip to the toilet had taken too long.

Parafield Gardens High School was contacted for comment. The education department did not confirm how many schools across the state had removed their toilet doors despite being asked three times.

Golden Grove and Modbury high schools were engulfed in the dunny disaster when The Messenger revealed they had removed external toilet doors.

Golden Grove High school students talk about the removal of toilet doors. Picture: Brenton Edwards

The move saw outcry from concerned parents and caregivers.

On Tuesday the department said it would issue a reminder to all public education sites to facilities met privacy requirements.

Speaking on ABC radio on Wednesday, Education Department chief executive Martin Westwell said the doors had been removed to stop vandalism and claimed a US social media trend was partly to blame.

“What we were seeing was there was a few students who were vandalising some of the bathrooms and interestingly we have seen that around the world actually the TikTok challenge of students recording themselves vandalising school bathrooms,” he said.

“I don’t know to what extent that is actually happening in South Australia but we have seen a bit of vandalism and sometimes we have seen groups of students congregating in the bathrooms and that’s made other kids who are going in there to use the facilities uncomfortable and so by taking the doors off we can just stop some of that anti-social behaviour.”

TikTok videos posted online by US students show toilets in a state of disrepair as a result of the “trend”.