Bathroom usage: Would you contact the school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Access to bathrooms in school is a privilege; not a right.

So you’d be fine if your employer decided that bathroom access was a privilege, not a right, and you peed your pants in the workplace because the bathroom door was locked?

We are talking about PUBLIC SCHOOL BATHROOMS.

Try to keep up.

Which makes it even more horrible, because at least you’re paid to be at work.

These are CHILDREN

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Access to bathrooms in school is a privilege; not a right.

So you’d be fine if your employer decided that bathroom access was a privilege, not a right, and you peed your pants in the workplace because the bathroom door was locked?

We are talking about PUBLIC SCHOOL BATHROOMS.

Try to keep up.

I am talking about human dignity, which everyone deserves, even in PUBLIC SCHOOL BATHROOMS.

[Anonymous]

This is an equity issue. Girls - especially those just getting their periods as teenagers - need to be able to spend time in the bathroom. It is utterly ridiculous to have a 5 minute passing time and a 30 minute lunch - with no other breaks during the day and expect girls to be able to take care of all their hygiene needs. If the school is worried about drugs or sex in the bathrooms, they can discipline those that they catch doing that. But don't punish the entire student body - and particularly the girls - because somebody is worried that somebody might do something that might be bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does "tardy" even mean though, when it comes to punishments?
Does she have to serve afterschool detentions for it? If not, who cares.

She is missing instructional time because she is still in the bathroom when the teachers starts a lesson. That's the real punishment.

No big loss in public schools.

Clearly your public school failed

US public education went from #1 in the world 50 years ago to now around #40+. Public schools are terrible overall. There's always exceptions to a rule, but in general they are bad, very bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since bathroom vandalism shuts down bathrooms completely and since there are probably not extra staff to act as bathroom monitors, I’d be glad that the school is trying to solve that problem.

They are not trying to solve the problem. If they were, they'd be punishing the few kids that vandalize the bathrooms in order to allow everyone else to use the bathrooms when they actually need to.

I am sure they are punishing vandals. But prevention is also necessary if bathrooms are to stay open.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The WaPo has covered this extensively;

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1186432.page

Bathrooms have to be locked so that vandalism doesn’t occur.

OMG - the Montgomery County schools really LOCK the kids out of the school bathrooms ??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since bathroom vandalism shuts down bathrooms completely and since there are probably not extra staff to act as bathroom monitors, I’d be glad that the school is trying to solve that problem.

They are not trying to solve the problem. If they were, they'd be punishing the few kids that vandalize the bathrooms in order to allow everyone else to use the bathrooms when they actually need to.

Unless you control access, you can't identify which students are the vandals.

I'm not saying that the OP's school's solution is the right one. I'm not saying that at all. But the solution will probably involve one kid in the bathroom at a time, along with some kind of monitoring of who goes in and out so they can identify the problem. It just also needs to involve longer and/or staggered passing periods, and excused tardies, and ideally single stall restrooms with cameras that show who goes in and out, but obviously don't show the inside of the stall.

But saying "just punish the kids who do it" ignores the fact that teachers can't enter student bathrooms because of child protection concerns, and so figuring out which kid did it is very challenging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The WaPo has covered this extensively;

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1186432.page

Bathrooms have to be locked so that vandalism doesn’t occur.

OMG - the Montgomery County schools really LOCK the kids out of the school bathrooms ??

My district does too. Not in DMV. Unfortunately it is more than “a few” kids abusing the bathrooms and the breaks. It is many. They destroy things, trash it, vape, want a pass all the time in every class to meet friends in there (and then stay in there). It is a big problem. Kids are acting feral. Our district opens them during passing time and lunch, otherwise they are locked. You can get a pass on a computerized system that controls how many kids are getting passes in the entire school at that time so too many aren’t out at once and it tracks patterns and times them. They have to clock in and out. I believe they cannot ask for a pass the first or last 10 min of class as well. I have a teen daughter and she hasn’t complained.
She honestly hates using the bathroom at school because of how gross it is

[Anonymous]

Middle school teacher here. We too, as teachers, do not get bathroom breaks. We go during planning period only most times. Kids abuse the use of the bathroom. Condoms are constantly in the bathroom. The preteens have sex in there all the time. They text their boyfriend and they sneak into the bathroom, get it on and leave. Girls use the excuse of their period all the time. Yep, I have the same girls bleed every day for a whole month 🙄. Someone said staff the bathrooms. Awesome! However, we do not even have staff to teach. Classrooms are without teachers and kids sit in the gym. Let your kid be late. A couple minutes late will not cause missed of instruction. You think five minutes of class is all the instruction and then the kids work quietly? Yea right. If she gets in school suspension for it, then she gets it. All they are going to do is contact you and you tell them ok. You think they are going to call the tardy or in school suspension police? There is no such thing by the way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since bathroom vandalism shuts down bathrooms completely and since there are probably not extra staff to act as bathroom monitors, I’d be glad that the school is trying to solve that problem.

They are not trying to solve the problem. If they were, they'd be punishing the few kids that vandalize the bathrooms in order to allow everyone else to use the bathrooms when they actually need to.

These so-called “few kids” are disproportionately BIPOC.

'
Racist much? It's actually not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Middle school teacher here. We too, as teachers, do not get bathroom breaks. We go during planning period only most times. Kids abuse the use of the bathroom. Condoms are constantly in the bathroom. The preteens have sex in there all the time. They text their boyfriend and they sneak into the bathroom, get it on and leave. Girls use the excuse of their period all the time. Yep, I have the same girls bleed every day for a whole month 🙄. Someone said staff the bathrooms. Awesome! However, we do not even have staff to teach. Classrooms are without teachers and kids sit in the gym. Let your kid be late. A couple minutes late will not cause missed of instruction. You think five minutes of class is all the instruction and then the kids work quietly? Yea right. If she gets in school suspension for it, then she gets it. All they are going to do is contact you and you tell them ok. You think they are going to call the tardy or in school suspension police? There is no such thing by the way.

Middle school parent here. OMG. Thanks for the nightmares. What in the world has happened to kids?

I’m 40 and when I was in middle school (public) the bathrooms were fine, cleanish, available within reason, never say anything nefarious happening in there. But I believe everything you are saying. My teen reports used tampons being thrown on floor, papertowels thrown everywhere, girls vaping, girls making videos, the soap regularly emptied out on the floor. Urine all over the seats. Basic decency is gone

[Anonymous]

Do school IDs have bar codes? Could we have kids scan when they enter and exit the bathroom or type in a personalized code (like their lunch numbers) and tell them that if they don’t report a problem when they enter the bathroom, they could be considered a suspect for causing it? While it might be hard to pinpoint who caused a particular incident (especially during busy times), with enough data, patterns should start to emerge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That’s absurd. I would get her a vague doctor’s note and tell admin that you trust you won’t hear about the issue again.

Agree. This is yet more evidence that our schools are not prioritizing the education of our children.

When is enough, enough?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since bathroom vandalism shuts down bathrooms completely and since there are probably not extra staff to act as bathroom monitors, I’d be glad that the school is trying to solve that problem.

They are not trying to solve the problem. If they were, they'd be punishing the few kids that vandalize the bathrooms in order to allow everyone else to use the bathrooms when they actually need to.

Unless you control access, you can't identify which students are the vandals.

I'm not saying that the OP's school's solution is the right one. I'm not saying that at all. But the solution will probably involve one kid in the bathroom at a time, along with some kind of monitoring of who goes in and out so they can identify the problem. It just also needs to involve longer and/or staggered passing periods, and excused tardies, and ideally single stall restrooms with cameras that show who goes in and out, but obviously don't show the inside of the stall.

But saying "just punish the kids who do it" ignores the fact that teachers can't enter student bathrooms because of child protection concerns, and so figuring out which kid did it is very challenging.

Schools absolutely know which students are the vandals. Public middle and high schools in the DMV have cameras in the hallways and it's easy to see who was in the bathroom right before it became unusable. A lot of schools also use electronic hall passes so administrators can see where students are when they're not in the classrooms. Like parents, too many administrators are trying to be these kids' friends and not set any kind of boundaries or enforce any rules. It's not working when it happens at home and it's certainly not working at schools either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That’s absurd. I would get her a vague doctor’s note and tell admin that you trust you won’t hear about the issue again.

Agree. This is yet more evidence that our schools are not prioritizing the education of our children.

When is enough, enough?

Wait how is this evidence of not prioritizing education? Take your agenda elsewhere, lady.