In an email sent out to the Berkeley High School community, BHS Principal Juan Raygoza announced the opening of a new building serving as a gender neutral bathroom building for students and staff alike. The building, which made its debut on campus on Monday, April 6, 2026, is situated on the Lower Courtyard, between the H Building and the Little Theatre, and represents what school leaders say is a significant step forward in making campus facilities more inclusive.
For some students, the need was urgent enough that they were leaving campus entirely just to find a gender-neutral restroom. “I would sometimes go all the way to the Berkeley Public Library to use the bathroom because it was quicker than going to the nearest all-gender bathroom,” October Hertenstein, a BHS senior and nonbinary transgender student, said. “It was a nightmare,” they said.
Hertenstein, who co-founded Gender Expansive Youth Activists, an offshoot of the Alliance of Gender Expansive Students (AGES), has been a strong advocate for gender neutral facilities at BHS and serves as a student member of the district’s Gender Equity and Sexual Harassment Advisory Committee (GESHAC). They said that the building is the result of years of student organizing. “It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, kind of a celebration;’ it was like, ‘Oh, my life has actually become easier,’” they said. Hertenstein also spoke to why gender-neutral bathrooms matter beyond just convenience. “When you’re a trans or nonbinary person, the world is set up in a way that doesn’t align with who you are,” they said. “To have a place where no one’s going to judge you for being there — you can just go, because at the end of the day you’re really just trying to pee,” they said.
The new building was developed in partnership with Assistant Superintendent John Calise and the district’s facilities department and is part of a larger ongoing project. Construction in the area will continue over the coming years, with plans to build a new glass-paneled entrance gallery for the Little Theatre.
“I’m really proud about where the Berkeley community, and specifically the (BHS) community, stands when it comes to safety for students and gender equity,” Raygoza said.
According to Raygoza, the reaction from the community has been overwhelmingly positive, “We don’t lose sight of the fact that students and staff having access to bathrooms is a basic need that we need to meet,” he said.
Not everyone’s experience with the new building has been seamless, however. Ni’zohn Cook, a BHS sophomore, said the concept is a welcome one but raised concerns about the facility’s current condition. He said he found several stalls without functioning locks and commented that the bathrooms were already dirty shortly after opening.
Raygoza echoed the call for the community to take responsibility for maintaining the space. “When we receive these resources and facilities on our campus, it’s on all of us to take care of them,” he said, “Everyone has to do their part to keep these bathrooms clean and safe so that students can continue to feel welcome.”
Hertenstein said they hope the building signals a broader shift and credits Jasmina Viteskic, Berkeley Unified School District’s Title IX Coordinator and Compliance Officer, who also oversees GESHAC, as an unsung force behind the progress. “So much work could not have gotten done at (BHS) without Jasmina,” they said, “She’s done so much to support this project, and I am forever grateful for the work and effort she’s put into this cause.”
The building does not yet have an official name, though it has informally come to be nicknamed as the “P Building” by many in the school. For Hertenstein, whatever it ends up being called, the significance is clear. “It’s nice to leave (BHS) knowing that something good has come of my time here,” they continued, “that I’ve created a positive change that will outlast me.”