In response to a student complaint filed with OCR over the summer (which we blogged about here), Lake Oswego High School (Oregon) has agreed to make its deluxe video screening room accessible to girls' teams. Previously, the room -- outfitted with a flat screen TV and comfy couches -- was mainly used by the football team. School officials claim that they "have never said that one group can not access this room" but since the room could only be reached through the boys' locker room, such protests seem hollow.
Fortunately, a solution lies in architecture. The high school has agreed to make the deluxe viewing room accessible from outside the locker room. They have also agreed to upgrade a second, existing viewing room to make it comparable to the football team's.
While it's nice to see an OCR complaint effectively resolved, it still kind of blows my mind that female students had to actually file a complaint to get the school to respond to such an obvious inequity. Going forward perhaps LOHS and its peers will do a better job ensuring equal access to athletic facilities and in responding to students' valid complaints.
