BANDERA, Texas — A 17-year-old's Facebook post is getting a lot of attention after he posted about his struggles using the bathroom at his school.
Lincoln Wood, a junior at Bandera High School, said he had to urinate in a plastic bottle Wednesday because the only wheelchair-accessible bathroom on campus was in use.
He says this issue tops a long list of much-needed improvements in the district.
"I was tired of it. I was upset. I was shaking," said Lincoln, explaining why he posted a picture of his water bottle filled with urine on social media. "I was done."
His first two years at Bandera High School, Lincoln says whenever he needed to use the restroom, he'd have to go to the nurse's office to relieve himself in a hospital jug.
"I'm just trying to be a regular student like everyone else. Just because I don't have feet, that doesn't mean anything," said Lincoln.
This year, he says the school widened one bathroom by one foot and added a hand bar. He says it's the only bathroom on campus he can use independently.
"There's only one handicap stall that's big enough," he explained. "All the other stalls are very tight and I can't get my wheelchair even close, not even in the door frame."
When the renovated bathroom is in use, Lincoln has no other option.
"It's funny. The school's motto is 'We Are One'," he said. "We are not one...When we chant that at the end of our games when we win, I feel very left out because it doesn't feel like we are one. It feels like y'all are one and I'm here."
In addition to the restroom issues, Lincoln also pointed out the difficulty opening certain doors on campus while in a wheelchair. Sometimes others are there to assist him in this situation, but not always.
"I told them years ago, I said, 'If you guys would have written grants and tried to get money to fix this stuff, we wouldn't be having this conversation,'" said Lincoln's father, Larry Wood.
Larry says he's fought for change in Bandera ISD for more than a decade. He says he witnessed multiple architectural barriers for students with disabilities when his daughter Lanie entered the school district. Lanie, like Lincoln, uses a wheelchair.
"For the four years she was [at Bandera High School], we had been asking this needs to be fixed, that needs to be fixed, that needs to be addressed. None of it ever was," said Larry.
During Lanie's time at Bandera High School, Larry says she asked school officials to fix a piece of metal on the ground that was catching the wheels on her wheelchair. She was worried it could be dangerous to her safety. Larry said the metal was fixed nine years later.
On a different occasion, Larry says Lanie just had a body cast removed before returning to school. When she was trying to use a plywood ramp the school installed for her, there was no landing. Larry says the fall caused her to fracture her femur and return to a full body cast.
He said the plywood ramp was replaced with a concrete wedge, but no landing or hand rail.
"It's 2024. ADA was passed 40-something years ago and we're still dealing with this, are you kidding me?" said Larry.
Lanie was able to walk at times, but Lincoln can't. Larry says this amplified the problems that existed at Bandera High School.
"Between Lanie graduating and Lincoln starting high school, nothing at that school had changed," he explained. "You've got architectural barriers all through this school that people can't deal with. There's all kinds of issues getting in the school, getting out of school, getting into the bathrooms, out of bathrooms. [The district is] like 'No, it's fine. We're compliant.'"
Larry said he tried to be proactive in alerting the district of potential issues for Lincoln.
For example, when Lincoln was approaching middle school, Larry requested a stair crawler in case the elevator is out of order.
"If the building caught on fire and he's on the second floor, can't use the elevator, how do you get down?" said Larry. "His 8th grade year, they finally got a stair crawler...It took about four years."
Larry says he encountered more issues at the high school.
An example, he says, is when Lincoln began to operate the drone to film football practices.
"It came away game time and Lincoln was like, 'Well, I want to go.'"
Larry said when he asked school officials, they replied, "'Oh, we don't have any buses that have wheelchair lifts available.' 'Oh, this week?' Larry asked. 'No, never.'"
Lincoln was driven by his family to all away games until the district supplied a wheelchair-capable bus last year.
"Lincoln wanted to be in the tech booth during theater doing the sound, the lights and mixing," said Larry. "Well the sound booth, he can't get in. There's no ramp, the door's too narrow and there's not enough room in there even if he could get in there."
In theater class, to access the stage, Lincoln said he had to go outside and around the building. After Larry put in a request for a chair lift, the district installed one so students in wheelchairs can get on stage quicker and easier.
Larry recalled, "During our meeting, [Superintendent] Bitzkie goes, 'I got that ramp to go up to the theater stage, spent $19,000 on that for Lincoln.' My wife said, 'You did not buy that for Lincoln. You bought that for every kid that has never gotten an opportunity on that stage because there was no access and every kid after him that's gonna be on that stage because now they have access...You bought that for the school and for every kid that's ever gonna need it.'"
Along with suggesting grants to help fund the school, Larry suggested having a third party come to assess the campus to identify any architectural barriers that limit students' mobility.
"If you truly care about the kids, if you're here because you love to help kids, and you're an educator wanting to make it great for these children, that's what you would do," he explained. "They say everything is up to code, but they keep fixing things we've been asking them to fix."
In a statement to KENS 5, Bandera ISD Superintendent Gary Bitzkie said, "Obviously, due to student confidentiality requirements, we are unable to comment on specific student situations, but we can confirm that Bandera ISD is committed to ensuring that all its facilities can be accessed and enjoyed by everyone in our community, including all students. Because of this commitment, our facilities do meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (the ADA) for accessibility.
We take this commitment seriously and if anyone believes that they need assistance accessing our facilities—whether you are a community member, BISD staff, or a parent or student, you may contact Christi Combes, the District’s ADA/504 Coordinator, Christi Combes at (830) 460-3893, to share concerns and we will take appropriate action to provide assistance."
To learn more about what's required in Texas public schools for students with disabilities, we reached out to Disability Rights Texas.
We asked:
Are Texas public schools required to provide ADA-compliant bathrooms? (Bandera High School was built in 1978, and Larry mentioned officials referring to certain rules that would not apply to schools built before a certain year)
Lucia Romana, Supervising Attorney at Disability Rights Texas, said, "According to Tx Admin Code: A building or facility used by a public entity is subject to compliance with the Texas Accessibility Standards if it is constructed, renovated, or modified, in whole or in part, on or after January 1, 1970, using funds from the state or a county, municipality, or other political subdivision of the state.
In general, since Texas public schools receive fed funding they must comply with Section 504 of Rehab Act. They also have to comply with Title II of ADA which applies to public entities. Since this building was built after 1977, it must be accessible under Sect 504 and if it had any major renovations at any point after the ADA was enacted it would have to comply there as well. This applies to bathrooms as well. When the Section 504 regulation became effective in 1977, the design, construction, or alteration of buildings would have had to follow the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Standards A117.1-1961 (R 1971).
So under both state and federal laws there was some requirement to have school buildings, which include bathrooms, be accessible."
If the facilities are not ADA-compliant, are there consequences for the district?
Romana replied, "Perhaps. Of course all this depends on a legal analysis and more details. However, an aggrieved student could potentially have the right to file administrative complaints and/or lawsuits."
If the district can't provide ADA-compliant restrooms, does the student need to be placed at another school?
Colleen Potts, Supervising Attorney at Disability Rights Texas, said, "It depends. If the student has an IEP (individualized education plan), then placement at another school would need to go through the ARD (Admission, Review and Dismissal) committee process. If general ed, the parent would apply for a gen ed transfer through admin for the reason of better accessibility. What the screen shot says is that NO school in the district has accessible restrooms. If that is true, there is no school in the district to transfer the student to. And Bandera ISD cannot force another district to accept the student’s transfer."
The Woods filed a complaint with the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR).
In an e-mail Larry shared with KENS 5 from Bethany Echols, an Attorney at the OCR Dallas office, she said the agency will investigate the following allegations:
- Whether the District discriminated against the Student on the basis of disability by failing to provide regular or special education and related aids and services deemed necessary to meet the Student’s individual educational needs (i.e., accessible transportation to football games), and thereby denied the Student a free appropriate public education (FAPE) during the 2022-2023 school year, in violation of Section 504 and Title II and their implementing regulations, at 34 C.F.R. § 104.33 and 28 C.F.R. § 35.130, respectively.
- Whether the District discriminated against the Student on the basis of disability by failing to take prompt and effective responsive action to address disability-based harassment directed at him by District staff members (i.e., when teachers made disparaging statements about the Student using a wheelchair), which was sufficient to constitute a hostile environment, of which it had or should have had notice during the 2022-2023 school year, in violation of Section 504 and Title II, at 34 C.F.R. § 104.4, and 28 C.F.R. § 35.130, respectively.
- Whether persons with disabilities are denied the benefits of, excluded from participation in, or otherwise subjected to discrimination by the District because certain routes, doors, and bathrooms at Bandera High School are inaccessible to or unusable by persons with disabilities, in violation of Section 504 and Title II, at 34 C.F.R. §§ 104.21-104.23, and 28 C.F.R. §§ 35.149-35.151, respectively.
"We're here for Lincoln and we're here for every other child that's gonna come through this school district and not have to put up with what they've had to put up with," said Larry.
"At the end of the day, I just want to be able to do everything at the school that everyone else can do," said Lincoln. "I'm gonna start videotaping everything I can't do at that school."