MS and HS Bathrooms - Normalizing Dangerous Areas at School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My high school kids complain about this all the time as their school's solution is to lock all the bathrooms.

Their thought is that everyone, including staff, knows exactly who the 20 are so main instigators and problem students are. The kids causing trouble in the bathrooms and skipping classes are a small group of kids ruining things for everyone. They want the schools to come down hard on those kids instead of giving them repeat chances to continue to cause problems for everyone else.

I think that their parents raise holy hell when their kids get in trouble. Or maybe the kids have IEPs or special circumstances where they are allowed extra leniency for behaviors. Who knows. But my kids think punishing that small group of kids, mostly a rolling group of underclassmen, will improve things school wide.

Gatehouse AND parents need to support school administrators and teachers in putting discipline back intk scholls, starting in elementary school. Punishing the majority to accomodate or make things easier for a small minority simply does not work.

This. So much this. Ask any student or staff member and they'll tell you there are 10-20 kids who ruin it for everyone else. These are the same kids who get Uber Eats paid for by the principal or counselor for doing the absolute bare minimum while the ones who show up on time and actually do their work in class hardly get any acknowledgment.

What are you going to do about those 10-20 kids? Suspend them?

Equity demands the schools NOT suspend any child over poor, or even criminal, behavior.

Equity, diversity, and inclusion.

That's not what equity demands. Equity demands that everyone is given what they need to be successful. Rewarding the kids who are behaving the worst is not helping them to become more successful. Anyone who believes otherwise has obviously not followed up with these kids after they get out of school.

In FCPS, equity in practice = no one gets suspended or expelled anymore.

The result is dangerous bathrooms and a more violent learning environment for every student in FCPS.

That is the reality of FCPS’s “equity,” and the reason I’m opposed to the equity-warriors who have taken over our schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it highly disturbing that we normalize that it’s ok for bathrooms at many FCPS MS and HS to be unsafe. Like most parents, we advise children to avoid them due to drugs/vaping/violence/rape/etc.

We are in big trouble as a community by telling our children to avoid a primal necessity, like going to bathroom, because it is dangerous.

Why has no PTA or parent group pushed this on FCPS? Kids should not avoid drinking water and going to the bathroom because of safety concerns. What solutions are there for FCPS to monitor and supervise our children better at school so they are safe?

Has anyone else reflected on the normalization and desensitization of this safety issue that’s unresolved and unfair to our children? Have any schools addressed this?

Don’t be naïve. Public schools absolutely refuse to address anything unpleasant unless parents BAND TOGETHER and DEMAND basic bathroom safety. How about you imagine being too afraid to use the bathroom five days a week. You’d be getting health issues. Ask your doctor.

1. Not using the bathroom all day causes urinary infections.
2. Not drinking water all day causes dehydration.
3. Dehydration reduces your ability to function properly.

How is ANY parent ok with this?

[Anonymous]

You’d be shocked at how much admin time is wrapped up in monitoring hallways and bathrooms. At the middle school where I work, the assistant principals are NEVER in their offices. Getting the frequent flyers out of bathrooms/hallways and back to class appears to be their full time job. And all of this for students who by and large are not passing SOLs or doing well by any measure. So much staff time handling so much nonsense. Zero consequences. Zero change in behavior. Rinse and repeat. When does it end??