Cornholio is Not Pleased.
Posted on 01/28/2013 11:30:03 AM PST by Altariel
MAHANOY CITY - Vandalism in Mahanoy Area High School boys' bathrooms has resulted in toilet paper being issued by request as needed, a policy that one parent believes is embarrassing for students.
Karen Yedsena, Mahanoy City, spoke during the public portion of Thursday's school board meeting, asking about the policy.
"I'm asking about the high school and why the boys are not allowed to have toilet paper except if they go to the nurse or the office to get it," Yedsena said.
The boys' bathrooms in the high school do not have toilet paper due to vandalism. Any boy needing the bathroom tissue must ask for it and sign it out.
High school Principal Thomas Smith said it was a solution to a major problem.
"We've had serious destruction to our bathrooms for the past two years," Smith said. "We have a case pending with the police where a bathroom down by our gymnasium was absolutely destroyed. I'm sure Mr. (Robert) Pastucha (district facilities director) could tell you the times that our toilets have been jammed with toilet paper and other papers. And after we took the toilet tissue out of there, people were throwing books. It was our way to try to curb the destruction in the bathrooms."
Smith explained the procedure in getting the toilet tissue.
"Our policy is that if you need toilet paper, you would come to the office. We're not refusing anyone toilet paper," Smith said. "You would sign out and then sign back in. I randomly go in to check if anything is going on. Since we've done that, we've cut down on the destruction."
Yedsena said there are students who have been embarrassed to go to the office for toilet paper and instead would go to the nurse saying they're not feeling well and go home instead. Thomas said he was unaware of any such problem from the monthly reports from the nurse.
"I think it's been pretty much accepted," Superintendent Joie Green said.
"Well, it's not," Yedsena said.
Yedsena also asked about the restrictions that students can only go to the bathroom during the first five minutes of a class.
"We're cutting down on people walking through the hallways for no reason," Green said. "What we're trying to do, is that they're going to the bathroom at the beginning and end of class."
Yedsena asked if the toilet paper policy could be changed, to which Smith said it could.
"I'm not against putting toilet paper back in (the boys' bathrooms). I could do that but if there's destruction to the bathroom, then it would go back to my policy," Smith said. "We had the policy last year, but at the beginning of this year, it was destroyed in the first day. I made warnings, talked to students, talked to class presidents to talk to their students and student body.
"I agree with you that it's a drastic measure," Smith said.
Board member Julie Fazio asked Yedsena, "What happens if we put the toilet paper back in the bathroom and your son is in the bathroom and two other kids come in and destroy the bathroom? And then we find out your child was in bathroom at that time?"
The policy is set by Smith as principal of the high school. The elementary and middle schools do not have a similar policy.
"I'm willing to communicate with anybody," Smith said. "I'm willing to put the toilet paper back, but if the bathroom is destroyed, it will be removed."
Thomas told Yedsena that he would be willing to speak with her about the matter during a school day.
In other business, the school board gave approval for a survey to be conducted by the Schuylkill County Drug and Alcohol Program to measure the attitudes and acceptance of alcohol use with 11th- and 12th-grade students. The results from the survey will be used by the Schuylkill County Drug and Alcohol Junior Advisory Board to assist in the planning and development of alcohol awareness/prevention initiatives in the county. Permission slips will be given to students for parents to sign.
After the meeting, Smith said the surveys are conducted annually but need to be approved by the school board each year.
During his liaison report on the Mahanoy City Public Library, board member Michael Mistishen said the library is holding a used book sale. He said there are tables filled with books available at a very low cost.
Green said the school held a dress-down day to raise money for Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, where 26 people, including 20 students, were killed by a gunman on Dec. 14. She said $925 was raised and will be forwarded to the school.
Pardon me, can you spare a square?
Sorry, I have no squares to spare.
I would be suspected of mis-use....due to the returned roll being so small. :(
I never once at any time in High School ever, EVER sought or needed to seek to use a restroom during class time.
And, I imagine if my fellow students kept destroying our restrooms that our principle would have just closed them and put port-a-potties in the school parking lot, with the board of ed’s blessing; and if a port-a-pottie ran out of toilet paper during the day, the kids would have been told to bring their own just in case.
Sheryl Crow is happy about this!
ONLY applies to boys.?!
Discrimination. Make the girls sign out, too. They need to start figuring out how to use one square, if they are going to be in the Infantry.
“You put your first two fingers through the square and then wipe with your fingers. Use the paper to wipe your fingers.”
Welcome to the Infantry, ladies.
For the information of all hands:
The racial makeup of the borough was 98.79% White, 0.22% African American, 0.09% Native American, 0.22% Asian, 0.22% from other races, and 0.47% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.29% of the population.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahanoy_City,_Pennsylvania
Mahanoy Area High School is located at 1 Golden Bear Drive, Mahanoy City. The high school enrolled 299 pupils in grades 9th through 12th, with 148 students receiving a federal free or reduced price lunch due to family poverty. The school employed 32 teachers yielding a student teacher ratio of 9:1.[19] In 2011 the school declined to Warning status due to chronic low student achievement in mathematics. In 2010, the school achieved AYP status.[20]
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahanoy_Area_School_District
This is blatant discrimination based upon ones sex since this only applies to boys. They need to be sued.
Always use your left hand if right handed...
I always hated it when they make innocent people pay for the crimes of the guilty.
This sounds funny except when a boy needs toilet tissue it’s obvious he’s going to have a bowel movement. My son’s elementary school had this policy for a while and caused many boys no end of embarrassment. How about just identifying the problems kids and make THEM ask. Don’t punish the good kids, too.
Sheryl Crow sighting??
Bring your own TP from home.
Cornholio is Not Pleased.
No reason the school cannot declare TP to be a required school supply that students should bring from home. And students whose families cannot afford TP should get it from the school nurse.
Seriously, for years some teachers have required students to carry large, humiliating objects with them as restroom passes. No reason that getting issue TP should be any worse.
The way I heard it you folded your square in half and then in half again. You then tore off the corner where the two folds intersect, leaving a hole in the center of the paper. It's very important to hang on to the smaller square that you ripped off the larger square. You proceed using your index finger passed through the hole to clean things up a bit and then fold the large square around your finger as you withdraw it rendering it clean as well.
What's the small square all about you ask? Why it's purpose is to clean under the fingernail of the index finger finishing the job. In the Army no job is complete until the paperwork is done.
Regards,
GtG
“You would sign out and then sign back in.”
Do they do a post-analysis test like fingerprinting or at least an ink-blot test?
One day, a teacher walked in and some kid makes a remark about the lights sure being dim due to all the toilet paper stuck to the fixtures. p> Teacher brings in the principal to examine the damage and he starts bringing in the most suspicious first and second grade boys which, of course, included me.
Thus begins the speech: "I know you kids didn't get this idea all by yourselves, what I want to know is who put you up to it!" A handful of the boys try to deny involvement, but the daggers in our eyes tell a different story. "It will go a lot easier on all of you boys if you give me names and tell me the truth!"
Naturally, we are intimidated enough to blurt out a few names. The second wave of kids gets the same treatment and blurt out a few more. Before it is over, two-thirds of the boys in the school are crowded into the bathroom. Principal declares anymore of this, and he will use a mean looking paddle which he shows us. He picks out 18 to 20 of the older boys and says that they will work with the school custodian in cleaning the ceiling over recess. The rest of us will police the school ground picking up trash. Anyone who slacks off will be doing it again the next recess and the recess after that, if necessary.
We did what we were told and considered ourselves lucky that we didn't get to feel the paddle on our backsides. Needless to say, there was no wet toilet paper or any other form of bathroom vandalism for a long, long time.
What in the hell ever happened to this type of common sense?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.