Teachers Resigning Like Crazy?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:If you are an elementary school teacher, you can pee right before the kids come in (8:25), again at specials times or lunch (anywhere from mid morning to noon), again at recess (a colleague could watch your class outside easily) and again at dismissal (3:30 ish). It’s really not that hard!

I teach middle school, but this is not close to what I experience as a middle school teacher.

Kids are in my classroom at 7:10, and my lunch doesn't begin until 12:15 each day. My planning blocks are both in the afternoon, so I can't go to the restroom during a planning block. It might seem that I can go between classes, but that is not possible because the closest faculty restroom is not very close to my classroom, and there are always at least two other teachers in line (it is a single toilet), so there is not time to go before I have to be back in my classroom.

Five hours is a long time to go without using the restroom, especially for a peri-menopausal woman who also has fibroids. I now wear Thinx underwear every day to school, but that's not even always enough, so I've had some embarrassing situations occur.

While we do now have recess in middle school, but I am assigned to a post where I am alone, so I can't even go to the toilet during recess because there is no one else there to watch the children in that location.

This is inhuman. Which county?

This can’t be Fairfax County because middle school starts at 7:30 am for the kids. They don’t even allow kids to come into the building until 7:10 am. The doors are locked until exactly 7:10 am. This teacher is lying. And why is she posting on an FCPS board?

The teacher is an FCPS teacher bc she said we now have recess. FCPS implemented recess this year. This is the perfect example of teachers exaggerating. That’s why parents don’t believe them anymore. There are no kids in classrooms at 7:10 am in FCPS period. Stop lying. Doors don’t even open until 7:10 am!!!

Also, in addition to a planning period, the teachers have study hall time.

My HS has no “study hall” but keep on spreading those falsehoods.

It’s called falcon or charger or whatever mascot time. That indeed is a study hall time. Kids can work on assignments or go see other teachers for help.

They can only go see other teachers or work on homework on certain days of the week. On the other days there are lessons teachers must present and there is no movement permitted.

This varies by school.

At mine the block is split. 1/2 is for intervention/remediation (I request kids or kids ask to go elsewhere). For kids with no obligations, it’s free social time with is kind of nice. Kids play uno or chat while I work with kids who were absent or failed a test.

The second 45 minutes is mandatory SEL lessons.

I know other schools do it differently—1 day per week SEL, the remainder of the time cycling through class periods for additional time. It’s definitely not standardized yet.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:If you are an elementary school teacher, you can pee right before the kids come in (8:25), again at specials times or lunch (anywhere from mid morning to noon), again at recess (a colleague could watch your class outside easily) and again at dismissal (3:30 ish). It’s really not that hard!

I teach middle school, but this is not close to what I experience as a middle school teacher.

Kids are in my classroom at 7:10, and my lunch doesn't begin until 12:15 each day. My planning blocks are both in the afternoon, so I can't go to the restroom during a planning block. It might seem that I can go between classes, but that is not possible because the closest faculty restroom is not very close to my classroom, and there are always at least two other teachers in line (it is a single toilet), so there is not time to go before I have to be back in my classroom.

Five hours is a long time to go without using the restroom, especially for a peri-menopausal woman who also has fibroids. I now wear Thinx underwear every day to school, but that's not even always enough, so I've had some embarrassing situations occur.

While we do now have recess in middle school, but I am assigned to a post where I am alone, so I can't even go to the toilet during recess because there is no one else there to watch the children in that location.

This is inhuman. Which county?

This can’t be Fairfax County because middle school starts at 7:30 am for the kids. They don’t even allow kids to come into the building until 7:10 am. The doors are locked until exactly 7:10 am. This teacher is lying. And why is she posting on an FCPS board?

The teacher is an FCPS teacher bc she said we now have recess. FCPS implemented recess this year. This is the perfect example of teachers exaggerating. That’s why parents don’t believe them anymore. There are no kids in classrooms at 7:10 am in FCPS period. Stop lying. Doors don’t even open until 7:10 am!!!

Okay, so some kids are in classes at 7:11. What a horrible exaggeration to cut a MINUTE off the time!

Teachers are allowed to use the restroom anytime before 7:30 am. The previous poster liar made it sound like at 7:10 am she is glued to her classroom and must be in the room but that is not the case. The teacher doesn’t have to even unlock her door at 7:10. She is free to go use the restroom. If the door is locked, kids will simply wait in the locker area with friends. As long as the teacher is in the room by 7:25 ish that is perfectly fine.

Not lying. I have students in my room by 7:10:30 almost every day (I’m close to where they come in). Sometimes they drop their stuff, go grab breakfast and then return a few minutes later with a bag of food (less do this now that breakfast is no longer free though) If I leave after that point and something happens while they’re in my room, I’m liable.

Other schools I used to work at were okay with kids milling in the hallway before school started, but where I am now they try to prevent large groups of kids from being able to gather because that’s when fights break out. During passing periods we have assigned duties in the hallway to try and make sure no kid is ever out of sight of a teacher (which is why the bathrooms are so popular, sigh. It’s the only teacher free space for drug deals and altercations.)

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Luther Jackson middle school holds kids on the bus until 7:10 then sends them directly to classrooms. Teachers are required to be in their classrooms by 7:10 to receive them.

So no, the teacher is not necessarily exaggerating. It’s one reason I left the school—being there by 7:10 and supervising students at 7:10 are very different. Now I can get 15 minutes of copies/grades/etc done from 7:10-7:25, which is super helpful in allowing me to get my own child on time after school.

Teachers are required to receive students immediately, as soon as the door open at 7:10, at many FCPS middle schools. So it definitely is entirely feasible that in many schools, teachers are supervising students as early as 7:10.

The bottom line is teachers are leaving and with everything going on in schools and the lack of support we are going to see the shortage get worse. Parents can deny it all they want.

Your bosses can deny it all they want. They refuse to address school safety.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:If you are an elementary school teacher, you can pee right before the kids come in (8:25), again at specials times or lunch (anywhere from mid morning to noon), again at recess (a colleague could watch your class outside easily) and again at dismissal (3:30 ish). It’s really not that hard!

I teach middle school, but this is not close to what I experience as a middle school teacher.

Kids are in my classroom at 7:10, and my lunch doesn't begin until 12:15 each day. My planning blocks are both in the afternoon, so I can't go to the restroom during a planning block. It might seem that I can go between classes, but that is not possible because the closest faculty restroom is not very close to my classroom, and there are always at least two other teachers in line (it is a single toilet), so there is not time to go before I have to be back in my classroom.

Five hours is a long time to go without using the restroom, especially for a peri-menopausal woman who also has fibroids. I now wear Thinx underwear every day to school, but that's not even always enough, so I've had some embarrassing situations occur.

While we do now have recess in middle school, but I am assigned to a post where I am alone, so I can't even go to the toilet during recess because there is no one else there to watch the children in that location.

This is inhuman. Which county?

This can’t be Fairfax County because middle school starts at 7:30 am for the kids. They don’t even allow kids to come into the building until 7:10 am. The doors are locked until exactly 7:10 am. This teacher is lying. And why is she posting on an FCPS board?

DP- Well, I post here because my kids go to FCPS schools. I teach in another district…. The way you jump immediately to the “teacher is lying.” Is disrespectful, defensive and strange. You are also attempting to negate her point of view by disparaging her character. If you have to do that just to garner support for your position, you are probably wrong.

That’s a lot of word salad for being called out on a lie. No kids are in classrooms at 7:10 am anywhere.

DP means Different Poster. You weren’t calling me on a lie. I didn’t make that post. Here I’ll fork feed you the word salad:

You are being unkind and rude.

This forum can be accessed by anyone and anyone can post here.

Don’t attack people who disagree with you. Explain why you disagree.

Sorry but I’m not following. Where was my attack? I explained my point of view - in FCPS no kids are in classrooms by 7:10 am because doors are just opening to the school for students then. Another poster said her middle school doors don’t open until 7:15 am. I wondered if PP was a teacher not in FCPS because it’s impossible at any school in FCPS for kids to be in rooms by 7:10 am. How is that being unkind? You sound unhinged.

Liar. Unhinged.

Those words constitute a verbal attack.

If you don’t know that you are probably listening to too much right wing media where such words are commonly used to manipulate the listener.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Sorry but I’m not following. Where was my attack? I explained my point of view -

in FCPS no kids are in classrooms by 7:10 am because doors are just opening to the school for students then

. Another poster said her middle school doors don’t open until 7:15 am. I wondered if PP was a teacher not in FCPS because it’s impossible at any school in FCPS for kids to be in rooms by 7:10 am. How is that being unkind? You sound unhinged.



Liar. Unhinged.

Those words constitute a verbal attack.

If you don’t know that you are probably listening to too much right wing media where such words are commonly used to manipulate the listener.

How do you know this? Do you work for FCPS? Do you have a master schedule for all the schools there and know exactly when every single one lets students in? Are you one of those idiot parents that thinks EVERY school does things just like your school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:If you are an elementary school teacher, you can pee right before the kids come in (8:25), again at specials times or lunch (anywhere from mid morning to noon), again at recess (a colleague could watch your class outside easily) and again at dismissal (3:30 ish). It’s really not that hard!

I teach middle school, but this is not close to what I experience as a middle school teacher.

Kids are in my classroom at 7:10, and my lunch doesn't begin until 12:15 each day. My planning blocks are both in the afternoon, so I can't go to the restroom during a planning block. It might seem that I can go between classes, but that is not possible because the closest faculty restroom is not very close to my classroom, and there are always at least two other teachers in line (it is a single toilet), so there is not time to go before I have to be back in my classroom.

Five hours is a long time to go without using the restroom, especially for a peri-menopausal woman who also has fibroids. I now wear Thinx underwear every day to school, but that's not even always enough, so I've had some embarrassing

While we do now have recess in middle school, but I am assigned to a post where I am alone, so I can't even go to the toilet during recess because there is no one else there to watch the children in that location.

This is inhuman. Which county?

This can’t be Fairfax County because middle school starts at 7:30 am for the kids. They don’t even allow kids to come into the building until 7:10 am. The doors are locked until exactly 7:10 am. This teacher is lying. And why is she posting on an FCPS board?

DP- Well, I post here because my kids go to FCPS schools. I teach in another district…. The way you jump immediately to the “teacher is lying.” Is disrespectful, defensive and strange. You are also attempting to negate her point of view by disparaging her character. If you have to do that just to garner support for your position, you are probably wrong.

That’s a lot of word salad for being called out on a lie. No kids are in classrooms at 7:10 am anywhere.

I’m an FCPS middle school teacher. Kids come in the building at 7:00. It appears you are not all-knowing.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:If you are an elementary school teacher, you can pee right before the kids come in (8:25), again at specials times or lunch (anywhere from mid morning to noon), again at recess (a colleague could watch your class outside easily) and again at dismissal (3:30 ish). It’s really not that hard!

I teach middle school, but this is not close to what I experience as a middle school teacher.

Kids are in my classroom at 7:10, and my lunch doesn't begin until 12:15 each day. My planning blocks are both in the afternoon, so I can't go to the restroom during a planning block. It might seem that I can go between classes, but that is not possible because the closest faculty restroom is not very close to my classroom, and there are always at least two other teachers in line (it is a single toilet), so there is not time to go before I have to be back in my classroom.

Five hours is a long time to go without using the restroom, especially for a peri-menopausal woman who also has fibroids. I now wear Thinx underwear every day to school, but that's not even always enough, so I've had some embarrassing situations occur.

While we do now have recess in middle school, but I am assigned to a post where I am alone, so I can't even go to the toilet during recess because there is no one else there to watch the children in that location.

This is inhuman. Which county?

This can’t be Fairfax County because middle school starts at 7:30 am for the kids. They don’t even allow kids to come into the building until 7:10 am. The doors are locked until exactly 7:10 am. This teacher is lying. And why is she posting on an FCPS board?

The teacher is an FCPS teacher bc she said we now have recess. FCPS implemented recess this year. This is the perfect example of teachers exaggerating. That’s why parents don’t believe them anymore. There are no kids in classrooms at 7:10 am in FCPS period. Stop lying. Doors don’t even open until 7:10 am!!!

Okay, so some kids are in classes at 7:11. What a horrible exaggeration to cut a MINUTE off the time!

Teachers are allowed to use the restroom anytime before 7:30 am. The previous poster liar made it sound like at 7:10 am she is glued to her classroom and must be in the room but that is not the case. The teacher doesn’t have to even unlock her door at 7:10. She is free to go use the restroom. If the door is locked, kids will simply wait in the locker area with friends. As long as the teacher is in the room by 7:25 ish that is perfectly fine.

This is not true. At my school, teachers are required to have our classrooms open, and we are required to be inside our classrooms or standing immediately outside, beginning at 7:10. Our principal and assistant principals walk around to make sure that is happening and we get talked to about not meeting professional obligations if we are not in our classrooms to welcome students at 7:10.

+1, the whole purpose of having them go directly to the classroom is so they are not walking around and socializing in the open areas.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:If you are an elementary school teacher, you can pee right before the kids come in (8:25), again at specials times or lunch (anywhere from mid morning to noon), again at recess (a colleague could watch your class outside easily) and again at dismissal (3:30 ish). It’s really not that hard!

I teach middle school, but this is not close to what I experience as a middle school teacher.

Kids are in my classroom at 7:10, and my lunch doesn't begin until 12:15 each day. My planning blocks are both in the afternoon, so I can't go to the restroom during a planning block. It might seem that I can go between classes, but that is not possible because the closest faculty restroom is not very close to my classroom, and there are always at least two other teachers in line (it is a single toilet), so there is not time to go before I have to be back in my classroom.

Five hours is a long time to go without using the restroom, especially for a peri-menopausal woman who also has fibroids. I now wear Thinx underwear every day to school, but that's not even always enough, so I've had some embarrassing situations occur.

While we do now have recess in middle school, but I am assigned to a post where I am alone, so I can't even go to the toilet during recess because there is no one else there to watch the children in that location.

This is inhuman. Which county?

This can’t be Fairfax County because middle school starts at 7:30 am for the kids. They don’t even allow kids to come into the building until 7:10 am. The doors are locked until exactly 7:10 am. This teacher is lying. And why is she posting on an FCPS board?

The teacher is an FCPS teacher bc she said we now have recess. FCPS implemented recess this year. This is the perfect example of teachers exaggerating. That’s why parents don’t believe them anymore. There are no kids in classrooms at 7:10 am in FCPS period. Stop lying. Doors don’t even open until 7:10 am!!!

Also, in addition to a planning period, the teachers have study hall time.

My HS has no “study hall” but keep on spreading those falsehoods.

It’s called falcon or charger or whatever mascot time. That indeed is a study hall time. Kids can work on assignments or go see other teachers for help.

They can only go see other teachers or work on homework on certain days of the week. On the other days there are lessons teachers must present and there is no movement permitted.

So for parents raised in the 80s-90s, this is not the same study hall as when we were kids.

[Anonymous]

Just another teacher chiming in here that the bathroom thing is real. We can’t leave our classes unattended. But the teacher next door can’t leave hers unattended to watch ours either, so we can’t really go during class. Between- no time to get there and back AND admin wants you at the door in the hall to hustle kids along, etc. AND kids think that’s the perfect time to ask what work they’re missing. So then you’re down to planning block - on B days, my planning is 5th. If I get planned ajdbhtaded and hopefully remember to go before the bell rings, I am still then teaching the rest of the day through with no opportunity to go. It’s such a known phenomenon that many teachers get UTIs when we return after summer break and our systems have to readjust - my doctor says she sees it every august.

I actually laugh when the kids claim they have no freedom of movement … they make an ehallpass and roam for 10,15 minutes each block while the adults ACTUALLY cannot step out to the use the restroom.

[Anonymous]

^^Another teacher here. And think about how thirsty we get projecting for hours. And when we get dehydrated our students complain that our breath is bad, which is disruptive and distracting. And when we get dehydrated we are more likely to get sick. You all hate it when we take our sick days.

So we try to stay hydrated. But not TOO hydrated.

I love these threads. So many of you have NO idea what happens in schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^Another teacher here. And think about how thirsty we get projecting for hours. And when we get dehydrated our students complain that our breath is bad, which is disruptive and distracting. And when we get dehydrated we are more likely to get sick. You all hate it when we take our sick days.

So we try to stay hydrated. But not TOO hydrated.

I love these threads. So many of you have NO idea what happens in schools.

Because most women are teachers, people assume the job is easy and requires no skill and anyone can just rock up and do it. They view every single thing from the POV of how it affects their 1,2,3 kids with seemingly no awareness there are larger implications and considerations at play when you’re talking about hundreds of kids in a school year per secondary teacher and thousands schoolwide. It’s kind of fascinating but usually just frustrating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are an elementary school teacher, you can pee right before the kids come in (8:25), again at specials times or lunch (anywhere from mid morning to noon), again at recess (a colleague could watch your class outside easily) and again at dismissal (3:30 ish). It’s really not that hard!

I teach middle school, but this is not close to what I experience as a middle school teacher.

Kids are in my classroom at 7:10, and my lunch doesn't begin until 12:15 each day. My planning blocks are both in the afternoon, so I can't go to the restroom during a planning block. It might seem that I can go between classes, but that is not possible because the closest faculty restroom is not very close to my classroom, and there are always at least two other teachers in line (it is a single toilet), so there is not time to go before I have to be back in my classroom.

Five hours is a long time to go without using the restroom, especially for a peri-menopausal woman who also has fibroids. I now wear Thinx underwear every day to school, but that's not even always enough, so I've had some embarrassing situations occur.

While we do now have recess in middle school, but I am assigned to a post where I am alone, so I can't even go to the toilet during recess because there is no one else there to watch the children in that location.

This is inhuman. Which county?

This can’t be Fairfax County because middle school starts at 7:30 am for the kids. They don’t even allow kids to come into the building until 7:10 am. The doors are locked until exactly 7:10 am. This teacher is lying. And why is she posting on an FCPS board?

The teacher is an FCPS teacher bc she said we now have recess. FCPS implemented recess this year. This is the perfect example of teachers exaggerating. That’s why parents don’t believe them anymore. There are no kids in classrooms at 7:10 am in FCPS period. Stop lying. Doors don’t even open until 7:10 am!!!

Also, in addition to a planning period, the teachers have study hall time.

My HS has no “study hall” but keep on spreading those falsehoods.

It’s called falcon or charger or whatever mascot time. That indeed is a study hall time. Kids can work on assignments or go see other teachers for help.

Mascot time at my school is straight up advisory and intervention-I’m busy the whole time, either teaching the given advisory lesson or helping students. It’s not a free period for teachers.

Y’all really should get your facts straight before you come on here and show your entire ass.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:For me it’s not about the inability to pee on my schedule. It’s about how my district and my administration tells the teachers that the reason we have a racial achievement gap is our implicit biases. That if we just tried harder then our students would all have exactly the same outcomes regardless of their hugely different home experiences and innate abilities.

This would piss me off too, but the fact that you’re attributing at least part of the racial achievement gap to these students’ innate abilities suggests that you do have a lot of implicit bias. You’re making it sound like you believe that different races have different innate abilities.

I do think that regardless of your biases, you and other teachers aren’t responsible for fixing the racial achievement gap. That’s ridiculous. But just beware that the language you use might make the admin think that they are onto something.

I’m that pp and here’s the reality in my school community. The white kids are primarily the children of upper middle class college-educated professionals. The Hispanic kids are primarily the children of non-college or high school educated blue collar workers, construction, housecleaning, etc. This is the society we live in right now in my area. People who drop out of high school generally have lesser innate academic abilities than people who graduate from college.

Okay but if you don’t want to sound biased need to avoid saying the *racial* achievement gap has something to do with any kind of innate ability. If you say it does, then you’re saying that some races are just born with more innate abilities, academic or otherwise. Im sure you recognize that this line of thinking is racist. You have to recognize that the reason that lower class workers are disproportionately POC is because of racist societal structures and not because there were born with fewer abilities than white people.

I didn't get PP said race was the reason for the achievement gap but, rather, the economic situation of the parents. This has a disparate effect or is more visible in various races. But PP wasn't saying white = smart, other races = not.

Right I do get what she’s trying to say, but everybody should honestly avoid suggesting the radial achievement gap has something to do with innate abilities. At a minimum, it’s not a necessary argument because in PP’s case it’s not the teachers who are causing the gap, implicit bias or no.

Again, I didn't read it as "innate" abilities but rather what was being seen in high/low economic groups (and race groups as a proxy for SES). Lower SES has less advantages available (tutoring, having to work, having to watch siblings) that impact school (I was that lower SES growing up, but white). The argument some make is that the teachers don't cause the gap - which I agree- but should do more to close that gap (I'm not sure where I come out on that given the variety of challenges in the schools).

Ok, I’m the one who wrote “innate” and it has derailed the conversation a little bit. I don’t mean biologically or racially innate. But I mean that their aptitude is affected by a ton of things that we at school have absolutely no control over, and then we are evaluated based on whether we have magically overcome all of that, and when we have not we are told once more that we have implicit biases and that is the reason for the persistent gap.

I was more sympathetic until your last clause, because I think that is likely a glib misrepresentation. You likely do have a ton of biases that impact how you interact with students that shape your expectations, strategies etc. We all do. Someone can evaluate you and reasonably ask you to work on that without saying that you are going to magically overcome all society's inequities by doing so. You sound defensive on that point to me.

This is not an individual evaluation I’m talking about. This is a staff meeting — actually about once a quarter — where we all look at all the student test score data and then we look at graphs breaking it down by race, and when we inevitably notice that there is a racial disparity, our meeting transitions into a professional development on implicit bias and antiracism. I’ve had three of these staff meetings so far this year.

I'm the PP who called out the innate comment and I do want to reiterate that I think you have an absolutely valid point. The cause of the racial achievement gap is multi-faceted and a lot of people are pointing to schools as the solution because we already have that infrastructure, but if a child is doing poorly because of food insecurity, generational trauma, poverty, housing insecurity, etc., no amount of implicit bias training can address those issues. Those are societal issues that teachers cannot fix. To ignore those issues when examining the racial achievement gap and instead put the microscope on a teacher's implicit bias really misses the mark and doesn't do anyone any good. Plus, teachers are spread too thin to meaningfully help any child and that exacerbates the achievement gap because the privileged kids will get outside help and resources to make up the difference.

The implicit bias causes disparity in discipline. Two kids one black one white commit the same minor offense. The white gets a pass the black kid gets sent to the principles office. The offense running in the hallway. Which one is missing valuable lesson time, which one comes to be labeled a problem kid so ends up under a microscope which means they are then constantly getting called out for any minor transgression puffed up and real or imagined.

Which one keeps missing out on valuable lessons. Which one can’t get the teacher referrals for advanced classes. Which one gets discouraged and begins to believe they are bad, not smart, etc

Meanwhile which one grows up to be a school shooter and everyone cries what but Jackson was such a good kid he never got into trouble.

Implicit bias hurts more than just the black, brown and economically disadvantaged.

PP here.

Yes, but dumping the responsibility for the racial achievement gap on teachers hurts those kids too. Even the most racially unbiased Black teacher cannot close the achievement gap on her own. Teachers need support with discipline, they need specialists to give one on one help to kids who are struggling, and they need more special education teachers who can give sped kids (which includes English language learners) support. Right now they expect teachers to do a ton of these things and when they can’t, they blame it on implicit bias. That is so messed up.

And there are a lot of other things you can do to control for implicit bias. You can have have teachers grade assignments without knowing the kids’ names (maybe having a teacher who doesn’t know the kids assigning the grades), you can make disciplinary actions by giving a teacher or administrator who didn’t know about the infraction a written list of objective facts, etc. Implicit bias is real and the impacts are serious, but it’s only one part of the problem and implicit bias training can only go so far.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Of course they aren't ! Not any more than other positions. They really have no other skills or opportunities except retail or daycare.

Not true, I know plenty of teachers who left and went directly into office jobs. Anyone can send emails, edit documents, sit in meetings, etc.

I'm so curious about people like you -- what exactly do you think those of us who work in an "office job" actually do all day long. Do you think we all have the exact same job? Do you think every company is Dundler Mifflin? Please tell us more about the typical "office job"!!

I'd settle for just being able to go to the bathroom when I need to instead of praying for some random adult to walk past my classroom at the end of the hall.

This sounds like my nightmare. Are you an elementary teacher?

I’ve had to do much the same in HS. 6 minute class break to try to pee, but 1 minute to the nearest faculty bathroom and 1 minute back, and there’s only one stall that’s serving 10-12 classrooms so there’s usually a wait.

Most of the Office Jobs Über Alles crew wouldn’t last a week.

I mean, it's so disheartening to hear this. If school administrators can't figure out a way to allow teachers to use the bathroom when they need to, what hope is there that they can tackle more difficult problems.

I know people complain about this on this board, but it isn’t something I hear teachers mention IRL. I’ve been teaching 30 years and IME there isn’t much anxiety over this. I go at 6:40 when I get up, 12:00, and again before I leave or when I get home.

I take a meditation that is a diuretic. I have to go all day long as often as every 30-40 minutes. It can be a sad piece of stress since there is nobody near me to help.

You should probably switch to an office job then.

Or ask for a medical accommodation. Which they'd have to give you. Yours is not the typical situation, PP.

DP. What would a reasonable accommodation be, and what is the likelihood that it would actually be implemented? I ask because I have issues with this and I am toying with the idea of going into teaching (I know, im crazy).

Bumping this question.

My guess is that while schools technically have to provide an accommodation, they wouldn’t actually do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
You teachers are sick if you're “not allowed” to use a toilet when you need to.

Not only are your administrators and school board doing nothing about this serious issue, but what about your good-for-nothing teachers’ union? What are they doing about this?

Buck up and demand some minimal human rights like going pee in a bathroom. Having to wear depends to pee is the most asinine thing I’ve heard.

Simple Solution:
You text the front office to have someone come sit with your students (asap) for a few minutes. What’s the big deal?

Spoken like someone who has no clue.

The main office staff isn’t sitting around twiddling thumbs. Everyone is busy. All the time. There aren’t enough adults in a school, and that’s a problem that will only get worse as teachers continue to quit.

It is so, so easy to look into the teaching world and find solutions. It’s a lot harder to actually be IN it. A teacher is responsible for far too much at every given moment of the day. We really are expected to do it all… all the time. And many of us do.

Many of us are also sick of it. I long for my old office job in college. I could eat when I wanted, pee when I wanted, sit alone if I wanted privacy, and I could actually get work done at work.