Middle school puts a lid on bathroom breaks

NJ.com ^

[Sub-Driver]

LAWRENCE, N.J. (AP)

[joesnuffy]

dehydration is good for kids...gotta be a tax payer funded study that will back this up ..somewhere...
Or we can make one...

[TheBigB]

Why not just punish the kids who were skipping?

Or would that make too much sense?

[Politicalmom]

It is quite difficult to use a five minute "passing period" to go to the bathroom AND make it to class on time. I'm not too old to remember junior high......BLECH!!

[GB]

I was about to rip this until I saw this meant leaving class, as you noted, to go to the bathroom. I think this is most reasonable and anyone having to leave class to go to the bathroom 15 times in a month either has urinary or bowel problems or is up to no good? (What was that Brownsville Station song of a few years ago?)

When I was in high school, there were like six periods in a day and we had a five minute break between four of the periods and a 10-minute break between two of the periods. That was sufficient time to take care of bodily functions, barring illness.

[Rubber_Duckie_27]

At my brother's high school, the bathrooms are kept locked during class periods (unlocked during lunch and before/after school). A student wishing to use the facility must first get a signed bathroom pass from their teacher, THEN must track down an elderly "bathroom monitor." These folks are paid to sit in front of the restrooms all day, yet they are usually asleep in the teacher's lounge most of the time. There is one monitor for the mens rooms and one for the womens rooms. IF they find the monitor, then the monitor stands in the bathroom while the kid does his/her thing - this is to ensure no one is smoking cigarettes or vandalizing property.

My brother knows of several incidents where young women (particularly the 14 and 15 year olds) have literally bled all over themselves while trying to track down a bathroom monitor. How embarassing for these girls! There have also been instances of students with IBS and other gastro-intestinal problems literally soiling themselves because they couldn't get in a bathroom quickly enough. The problems with such a policy are not limited to younger kids.

This policy exists for a reason, but they've taken it much too far. It's made it so that even if a kid has the teacher's permission to leave class, they may not be able to use the bathroom if they can't get one unlocked. What used to take 5 minutes, maximum, can now take 10-15 minutes because of the effort the student must make. Welcome to today's public schools!

[Rubber_Duckie_27]

When I was in high school (1995-1999) we had a break of 2 minutes between classes. This was in a largish school of more than 1000 students.

Unless your classes were in the same wing of the building, you had little hope of even stopping at your locker and still making it to class on time - I usually carried 3-4 textbooks with me at a time, and STILL had to run to make it to class on time. Forget about making a pit stop at the bathroom!

[Dan from Michigan]

and in other news, "Marlboro" sales dropped dramaticly.

But "Kodiak" sales doubled....

[Libertina]

The good news is that these kids may grow to HATE liberals and their STUPID schemes. (With good reason)

[TSgt]

"They have since destroyed all real schools because they're fundamentally stupid and have no sense of honor."

Damn, I love the way you put things! ;)

Wasn't it John Lennon who said Give pee a chance?

[Scenic Sounds]

They should let these kids save up and sell their unused bathroom privileges. Why not teach the kids a little capitalism??

[Amelia]

Under a new policy at the Lawrence Middle School, seventh- and eighth-graders are allowed to leave class for the bathroom a maximum of 15 times a month.

I'd bet they are still allowed to go between classes.

[headsonpikes]

Welcome to today's public schools!

Kids! The public schools are at war with YOU!

Never surrender!

[FormerlyAnotherLurker]

Ah, I was never an adolescent girl but I'm pretty sure they only occur once a month give or take.
Though, I had a friend who had an "accident", I loaned her my coat to wrap around. Dumbest thing I ever did until many years later when I had a driver's license!

[Khurkris]

"(What was that Brownsville Station song of a few years ago?)"

"Smokin' in the Boys Room"...? Sounds about right. Great RnRoll band.

15 times a month should be enough for all but the worst of the 'Chronic Urinators.'

[Poohbah]

It is quite difficult to use a five minute "passing period" to go to the bathroom AND make it to class on time.

Especially since they don't let you ride rollerblades or a skateboard on campus.

[tiamat]

Depends.

CAN happen MORE often til the cycle gets established and it's often unpredictable.

Girls eventually learn to feel what is happening to their bodies and cna get a clue before it's too late. .

YOU are gallant and good to have loaned your coat!

;-)

[varon]

Maybe after a few students decide to take a whiz on the teacher,...........

..............or a dump in the teacher's wastepaper basket ;-)

[FormerlyAnotherLurker]

Well, maybe it was gallant but I NEVER wore that coat again. After I sort of explained to my mother (Geez THAT was embarrassing!) she wore it after a good cleaning.
I saw the friend a couple years ago and she reminded me of it. Six months later I stopped by and she had a Christmas gift for me - a new Land's End reversible down parka (Highly recommended- warm, well built) in a tall size. Her husband is an inch shorter than I and made sure the sleeves would be long enough. She wanted to replace the one that was soiled. Twenty years later. Cute!

[SouthernFreebird]

I'm stunned at the amount of posters on this thread who think it's ok when the schools we are required to pay for and send our children to put a limit on one of our most basic human needs.

I have children in all 3 schools, elementary, middle and high, they do not have enough time in between classes to use the rest room and get to class.
Our schools are overcrowded and all classes exchange at the same time. Thats alot of kids hitting the stalls at one time...and the girls restrooms are severly under equipped to handle the running of the bulls, so those who don't get there first are out of luck at waiting for an opening, using and getting to class on time.

I couldn't imagine being a teenage girl with her period in school now, not to mention the health risks. Good Lord, we've let them turn our schools into a nazi boot camp... we pay them to abuse our children and some of the hard core people here see absolutely nothing wrong with our schools putting a limit on how many times our children can pee.

I can hardly sing our National Anthemn anymore without choking over the words "O'er the land of the free".....

[TexasCajun]

the public school system....

What you really mean is Government School System!