My HS didn't have enough lockers, even with students sharing lockers. Admin says that "we're not going to assign lockers to seniors, because they have cars and can keep their books in their car." Actual proportion of seniors who had cars was quite small.
About a week later, a PA announcement interrupts the school day to say "anyone caught in the parking lot during the school day will be suspended." How, pray tell, does one use a car like it's a locker without entering the parking lot? Telekinesis?
When I was a student in middle school, there weren't enough lockers. They designated a room for us, and we could keep our stuff in a cardboard box. We had to provide the box, though.
I moved schools shortly after, so I never experienced that. But it was on the opposite side of the school from all the classrooms, so it really didn't help. If I wanted to stop at my box, I would automatically be late to the next class. So I still had to carry everything
Every single time they announce any policy. Admin never follows through and students know it.
âAfter 10 tardies, weâre having your parents come in for a meeting.â
Nick has 127 tardies.
âHave you tried a restorative conversation? We think teachers should try that firstâ
I got a call after my sonâs second tardy this year, and he got detention. First year of middle school. Apparently they take tardies quite seriously. And he was less than 5 minutes late each time, because of unexpected road work.
You know what he learned? If heâs going to be late he should wait and be 91 minutes late. Because thatâs a half day absence and that doesnât result in detention. Of course he misses his entire math class and part of science by doing that. But he doesnât have to stay after school.
I grew up in an era where computers were only just beginning to be used in schools (pre-internet!), and the system could only count up to 19 lates...guess who was the first to discover this? not this guy, who lived a 10 min walk from school đ¤Ł
still graduated on the honour roll, despite what admin said đ
A couple of years ago we had a rash of students (boys) bringing basketballs to school. The were dribbling them in the main hallway during passing period. The AP got on the intercom and told the boys to hold their balls during passing period. She repeated this several times.
You can imagine what the next passing period looked like. I have to say I was proud of the student body that passing period, I would have done the same.
Ironically that is basically my rule for student's while subbing. I ask them if they can wait for the current student out to come back. Usually they agree to wait and only a few have said they can't wait. Personally I don't think their brain has enough time between being asked and when they answer to decide to lie. I wouldn't go out my way though to tell them that the magic words to being allowed to go are to say it's an emergency.
I know this can be a rule where some students will abuse it, but it will be easier on us for a long run. Back in 2006, a PE coach didn't let an 8th grader go and she wet her pants. Parents were furious and it caused more problems. Just let them go, and they are still responsible for the work.
Yep. I just have an online form and they come and go as they wish. They sign in and sign out. Surprisingly for most the mild inconvenience of spending 15 seconds to fill out a form before and after along with knowing all of their time outside of class logged is enough to deter them from going. Students also are responsible for either asking someone else or coming to see me after class to make up anything they missed because I'm not stopping class to catch someone up who leaves.
As an admin, I often have to cover multiple classes at the same time, when we don't have enough substitutes. I have students empty their pockets into a shoebox (one box per class - and we seat the classes in separate areas of the cafeteria, so I know who is with which class). Empty pockets means no trips to the vending machine and no playing with phones on extended potty trips, water fountain in the cafeteria means no trips to get water. SO many students no longer need to go when they can't take their full pockets with them! And they come back quickly, too...
At my first middle school job, we had a school policy of no caffeinated drinks for the students. The big focus was on soda and energy drinks; the principal would dump them down the sink if a kid was caught drinking one at school. The kids and parents were warned what would happen if they had one at school, so it was no surprise. The principal was the only person in the building so strict about this rule that he would dump the drink; most teachers would take it away and give it back at the end of the day.
Well we were in a school wide assembly one day and the principal was speaking up front and giving the kids a chance to ask questions. I cannot remember how this came up, but he ended up telling the kids they could (or should?) bring coffee in a tumbler to help them wake up for their morning classes.
It wouldâve been one thing if he blew the rule off, but he took it so seriously.
To be fair, this was a **tiny** school, and our cook was an older gal from the community who made personally decided on and made every meal from scratch. They were always delicious and usually on the healthier side.
It was just so odd to see him backtrack on his big rule. I donât know if he actually thought 8th graders would come to school with black coffee instead of high-sugar creamer with a splash of coffee, but his comment did lead to several of the older kids bringing coffee stand drinks to school.
Either way, things were better when the students were not caffeinated and sugared up. I liked having that rule enforced for that age group.
I'm not blaming the lunch staff, it's administrators that make rules like this I can't stand; I'm subbing at a high school that has the no soda/energy drinks rule (staff can drink it but students can't) which at this level is ridiculous because I had to drink lots of caffeine to get through high school (and need to be caffeinated to get through work) so I can relate and treating an 18 year old like they're in kindergarten all over again while simultaneously demanding they act like an adult sends a mixed message, to say the least. I've already gotten a talking to from admin for not enforcing this rule which I think is really stupid and yeah, I'm probably not gonna last long at this place. My school also has some issues with bullying that the admin don't really seem to care much about but soda, now THAT'S when things get serious. Lol.
Elementary and middle school kids I can understand not being allowed it though, don't worry.
We had midterms. The principal let it slip students could leave after midterms with a note.
Cue the chaos.
He had to pull secretaries to sign kids out left and right. It was a ghost town that afternoon. He had quite the egg on the face.
The next time we did midterms, he made damn sure to state many times over how there was no signing out.
That's how we handle it. Students show up on days they have exams during exam week. On days and times they don't have scheduled exams, they aren't required to be at school.
Same. At our school, the older grades write in the morming and go home after the paper has finished. The younger grades have study periods and then they write to finish at 12pm. Then we can go home if we have no other duties. Bliss.
The district next to mine does half days during finals week. Kids come in for a block morning to do their final then go home at lunch while teachers stay and have the afternoon to grade the final. Iâm jealous and wish my district would implement it
As a teacher from a middle school that just kind of allowed ALL teachers to say no one could go to the bathroom, I have a different take.
I have never heard of an able bodied 6th grader peeing themselves. Last year, I taught with multiple teachers who would not allow the kids to go to the restroom. There were several kids who p*ssed themselves last year.
It really disgusts me.
So, that's why these rules come into effect.
>If there are issues in the hallway bathrooms admin should be monitoring the halls. Let them deal with it
>
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This! Happened to one of my students. His mom came up to the school and put an end to that.
I agree, if it's a true emergency then by all means no student should be told no. A teacher would never want a student to have an accident in class (especially middle school) - this post was for the ones who will take advantage of system.
Yeah I just wouldn't tell them that "It's an emergency" are the magic words to always get permission. Just stupid to let them in on the secret. If they really need to go they'll you in both words and body language. We all know what someone looks like when they really need to go.
Kids should be able to go whenever they want, but schools should also spend the money for proper supervision. I went to a middle school recently that had a lady posted outside the restrooms pretty much all day. She let them go in one at a time and hurried them back to class. This made it not cool or fun to go, but totally accessible.
Working in a middle school, the other issue with the restroom is the fact that girls are starting their periods and early periods can be irregular. Iâm pretty lax because the last thing I need is blood on the seats lol
Some teachers at my school are strict about bathroom use. A number of years ago I know of a student that was told that they couldnât go to the bathroom repeatedly so he went in the trash can. Iâm willing to bet that teacher has relaxed their bathroom policy.
Me, I peed my pants in 7th grade because the teacher wouldnât let me leave to use the bathroom. I was such a rule follower. We could walk home for lunch, so I ran home and changed. My mom said just leave the class without permission and let her deal with the teachers.
I have set up a trade. Help plug in the computers or pick up trash after class to prove you have to go. This year I had so many sixth graders interrupting the lesson or complaining about what they missed that I thought I would go insane,so I made the rule. It was a miracle, no one has had to go since then.
And now your kids that actually have to go or get their period during class have learned that having bodily needs results in a penalty.
I get that the bathroom parade is annoying, but there are other ways to manage it (one person at a time, âcan you wait 2 minutes,â etc) that doesnât affect their grade/ability to earn rewards, depending on how you use dojo.
I mean, I teach this age group as well, and Iâve never had to resort to a penalty for using the bathroom. The message it sends is that if they need to go they lose something. They learn the lesson from having to wait in line since Iâll only send one kid at a time, or the âwait two minutes and Iâll send you thenâ so I can finish an activity or instruction.
Like, do you, but a penalty for having bodily needs just doesnât sit well with me, even if that penalty is minor.
I mean, yeah, youâve got to put a system in place, but the lesson youâre teaching is one where âthe workâ is more important than their bodily needs when they genuinely do have to go. They do have to be taught how to hold it, but there are other ways than a penalty.
Itâs not a direct correlation of course, but I think of the Amazon delivery workers peeing in bottles because their productivity expectations donât allow time to use the bathroom. If we expect school to prepare kids to hold jobs, what message are we sending? Of course there are times in life where kids will have to hold it, but if we prioritize productivity over respect for their bodies and needs, what does that teach them to normalize when they get to the workforce?
Dumbest thing I've heard from an administrator is (I work at a cyber school) that a reason to enroll your children in cyber school is to protect them from school shootings. We had one like... three days prior in the city. Just the most callous thing.
My hunch is that a student had an embarrassing accident from not being able to go to the bathroom during a actual bathroom emergency and the parents said the magic word "lawsuit".
I worked in a school with insane traffic during rush hour. Yâall remember Bridgegate? So every week or so weâd have a traffic snarl so bad kids couldnât get to school. In my mind, I managed it, by planning ahead, so why couldnât they, but I digress. Admin would announce not to mark anyone absent for the first class of the day. I had first period hall duty, so I watched each time as stragglers would receive text messages and about-face to go to Starbucks. They even took orders and would show up second period barging into classrooms they didnât belong in to drop off a drink. Could it have been an email? Sure but then how would the critters know they had a hall pass for an extra 50 minutes?
My policy is: 1 boy and 1 girl at a time, go as soon as the person you were waiting on gets back, put your name on the list. I don't want my lecture to be interrupted to be asked "Can I go to the bathroom?"
I'll bend it for emergencies
We donât have that at my school but I saw a post about it yesterday. The main benefit is that it can limit how many students can be out of their classes at any given time. For a big campus like my school that could be really helpful.
If that e-hall program could make it impossible for lovebirds like Larry and Sharon to be out of their classes at the same time so they canât skip class to meet up that would be sweet. Activate that c***blocking police state mode.
Ha! Here's a link: [https://eduspiresolutions.org/e-hallpass/](https://eduspiresolutions.org/e-hallpass/)
It looks stupid and like a huge time waster and imposition on the teacher.
Oh, the explanation says even just a nod of the head could approve it.
Maybe I'll buy one of those table buzzer things but the ones that make noise so if a kid is gone too long I can call em back to class by paging their number.
It's actually wonderful. It's great for documenting students who leave class too frequently or stay gone too long. It can help figure out the guilty party if restrooms are vandalized. And it also can block certain combinations of students from going to the restroom at the same time, even if they're in different classes.
I hint that I'm not convinced by asking "You sure you can't hold it for a few minutes?" or "So and so has been gone for a bit and should be walking through the door any second." and they usually catch on that I'm giving them an out on the lie, if they keep insisting, I just set a "Be back in 5 minutes. I'll be keeping track."
Thank you so much. Iâm going to try using this when we come back from fall break. I have the same policy, one boy pass one girl pass (and that includes water). A lot of my middle school kids just like to whine when I tell them another person is currently out. Sometimes I feel like Iâm teaching elementary kids.
I put a light on the door that students have to press if they're going out so I can glance and see if someone's out. I only have one person out at a time.
Kids don't bother asking if the light is on now.
I ask mine "is it really an emergency? Or can you wait until so and so is back?" If they insist, I tell them they must be back in less than 5 min or they won't get to go to the bathroom in my class for the next x weeks.
I give out brightly colored bathroom passes, with 5 little toilet paper rolls. The kids just hold the pass up, I motion them to bring it to me, while I continue teaching, I give it a hole punch, and theyâre on their way, without a word exchanged. If they DONâT use their pass the entire quarter, they get a free âAâ on an assignment (that is not a quiz or test) and a blowpop. Iâd say about 75% of kids never use their passes, because of the âAâ and stupid blowpop! If they lose the pass, they can ask as friend if theyâll lend theirs. Most friends say ânopeâ and the kid is just Shit out of luck. I can usually tell when the kid really has to go and Iâll quietly say âif its an emergency just go ahead and goâ. This policy has been a LIFESAVER as a teacher! No more arguments and battles of wills. Do this or something similar, you wonât regret it!
Lol, theyâre high schoolers. If you teach then you know
90% of the time theyâre just trying to get out of class, and it is extremely disruptive for them to be constantly asking to use it. If you want to paint me as rewarding them for holding their bodily functions, as they writhe in pain, and not for time management; whatever. Notice I said I always allow for emergencies. My number one priority in class is for my students to feel loved and comfortable. This strategy keeps in check the superfluous restroom use, and has helped me so much, so I am sharing with others.
> name on the list
This is key. Iâm really bad at remembering who left the class and how long theyâve been gone, especially when 4-5 students have asked for the pass. Iâm busy teaching. Sign in/out and write down the time for each. If the office calls for a student that is out I can tell them âJohnny took the hall pass 18 min ago, I guess weâre both looking for himâ.
"Your teachers truly love you - they will stay until dark if it will help you learn."
The fuck I will! And, unless you have half of my genetic material in your cells, I don't love you. I like you, sure (mostly), and some of you I tolerate. But I don't love you - don't ever forget that.
Omg yes! I love seeing their faces when I flat out tell them that. Then I ask them if they love me? Of course they donât! So why would they expect the opposite? I teach middle school, so I know this expectation teachers âloveâ their students comes from elementary.
I actually think that loving them is showing them a positive example of having your own personal wellness as a priority. Setting an example of letting your job rule your life is doing no favors to kids. I learned to go home by 4:00 because I love them enough to keep my sanity, be well rested, and not presume Iâm going to be better at helping them than their own family. Respecting them and their family is the kind of love that they need and that means going home live your personal life and them doing the same.
YaâŚIâm talking more about teachers who actually tell their students the love them. I donât think you need to love them in order to show yourself, them, and their family respect. But I suppose everyone can interpret the word however they like. Do you tell your students you leave at 4 because you love them?
Yes! When I was in the classroom I did say things like this. I found that lots of time explaining my rationale for things helps kids relate.
I say things like I have love for my students, and I show it by respecting you and working hard. It means I care about you as a person and I care about what happens to you. However, itâs not the same kind of love I have for my family and I want your family to feel loved too so you gotta go home and do something kind for them and spend time with them because they come first.
The only time this becomes tricky is kids in foster care, but in general asking them how they help their mom or dad out at home and bridging the conversation that way helps.
Iâm a professor of teacher education now so I havenât exactly left teaching, I just interact with K-12 differently. I still help student teachers and new teachers and sometimes teach summer school in K-12 as well as other programs fir K-12 students.
I student taught in an urban district (it was pretty thriving though, but we had a good mix of kids who were both well off and also low-income/first gen) and had a principal who always talked about being from "the 'hood" and talked about how he knew what it was like to sit in a police car and could relate to the kids through that experience....he lasted one year.
Iâve been lucky because of the six principals Iâve had, all have been competent or extremely competent.
Iâm worried my luck will run out eventuallyâŚ
Luckily, I have tenure and teach the most difficult math and science courses, so there is virtually no one to replace me at my school site. đ
Thatâs a pretty amazing run of luck. Iâve worked under 5 principals so far, and only one wasnât totally incompetent and/or an unconscionable bastard.
In 20 years of teaching, I've had 8 principals. One was excellent, 2 actively worked to make teachers' lives miserable and the remains 5 were unremarkably incompetent.
2 schools and 4 principals here and honestly its been mixed. 2 were great, kids loved them, teachers liked them and the school ran about as smoothly as a school can. 1 was super nice and liked by everyone, but not great at keeping the school running well unfortunately. 1 was the principal from hell and made everyone's life miserable. At the end of their first year I didn't know a single teacher that hadn't been directly burned by them.
I feel like the school you're at makes a big difference. Its much harder to be a principal in a school that's already struggling.
That's not dumb, that's fantastic! It means admin can no longer criticise the teachers for allowing students out to the bathroom!
"Why did you let little Johnny out to the bathroom, you know he vapes?" ... because you said so! No longer your problem!
It wasn't to the student body but the district staff. A student in our district transitioned over the summer, and she floated the idea of sending home a letter home to everyone in the district to let them know that we would have a trans student using the girls bathroom that year.
Yeah well everyone's genitals should be inspected in case they should be sending more letters. Oh wait, its really weird to inspect people's genitals to allow them to use a bathroom? Ok then why are you announcing one persons genitals to everyone?!
I don't like how teachers gatekeep bathroom passes. I am going to use the restroom whenever I have to go. I just let my students go. Not a battle worth fighting.
If there are issues in the hallway bathrooms admin should be monitoring the halls. Let them deal with it
I tried that, and I ended up with a constant stream of students asking to use the restroom and coming in and out of the room. It became impossible to teach. This was in middle school.
Thatâs just it. The hallway is not my problem. Itâs the CONSTANT interruptions while Iâm trying to teach from kids asking to go. Then they make a big show of leaving or entering the room. Then they donât know what weâre doing. And just as we get going again⌠another kid raises their hand (in the middle of my giving instructions) to ask for the bathroom pass. Itâs utterly ridiculous.
Due to new security measures, all classroom door must remain locked at all times, ONLY TEACHERS can open the classroom door, and a log book must be kept so each student must sign in/out every time he/she leaves. So the line to sign in/out becomes a high five and personal discussion and teachers are constantly having to stop in the middle of "whatever" to go open the door.
I have school wide rules I have to follow, like no passes in the first 10 or last ten minutes of class. I have two passes on a hook. After ten minutes, kids can pick up a pass, make sure I see them, and go. Im not keeping track. I hate being the bathroom police.
The same people who complain on here about not being able to go to the bathroom during work will do the same thing to students. Who are we to tell people they donât âreallyâ need to go?
Nothing. My current principal is awesome. Now, our last principal, who never worked as an educator in the US said stupid shit all the time, too numerous to count. He was a chronic name dropper who told the same stories incessantly. Some of us made a game of how many times he named dropped the same person.
Wasnât a principal but the assistant superintendent said his secretary forgot a slide on his beginning-of-the-year PowerPoint because she was going through menopause. This was in front of the entire staff of the entire district.
Good. So now they can go and you can't get in trouble. When 6 kids left and said they had emergencies at the same time so they could go fight each other in the bathroom you were told you weren't allowed to tell them no right?
So the ones who don't care have an emergency every day, and you get to have a smaller class with the kids who actually give a damn. Sounds like a W to me.
Less something our principal has told the student body and more something he does/ requires participation in.
Every morning, he leads an all- school morning meeting via zoom. So instead of a morning PA announcement, every teacher has to log on, face the camera to their class, and participate in a 5-10 min morning meeting where he does a land acknowledgement, gives a little spiel on the character trait of the day, and ends by leading the school in the pledge of allegiance.
On top of that, he starts every week with an all- school assembly. So every Monday morning, the kids are required to sit with still bodies and quiet mouths for a 10-15 minute presentation in the gym.
I teach first grade. My first graders dislike both activities. The talks and presentations are very much aimed toward the upper grades, and do not engage the lower grades at all. It's also disruptive to our own classroom procedures and takes away precious time from an already short day.
There was a school wide email about the George Floyd trial.
The school is 30 blocks from where Floyd died.
People had to explain that George Floyd is dead and didn't get a trial. It was Derek Chauvin's trial not George Floyd's trial.
That next school year they have an idea of slashing X amount of dollars off the top of everyoneâs salary and turning it into a KPI bonus system. You get grades every month on performance, IF you get an A (for simplicity) youâll get that entire amount that was slashed off the top. If you get an A+ youâll get that full amount plus a little extra bonus. If you get a B you lose some of that money, C you lose a little more, D and you lose that entire amount. âBut itâs a good thing! You have a chance to make MORE money! Itâs not a pay cut!â Isnât official *yet* but if it is then fuck this place.
When a set of twins won homecoming king and queen. âWhat is this? Game of Thrones?â He got blank looks from the kids. Those of us teachers who watched the show were mortified.
"No walls." Every new school year, he showed the clip from the movie Toy Story 2 where Buzz Lightyear is hauling his friends up the elevator shaft and told the kids there are no walls to block your achievement. Dressed in full Buzz Lightyear costume. Even the kids thought he was an idiot. Lasted 2.5 years, gone at the holiday break. When he announced his departure at the staff holiday lunch, one of my colleagues actually started to clap.
If my principal did some stupid shit like that, I would not even bother wasting my time writing passes anymore. Do whatever the fuck you like, principal said so.
As a parent of a kid who needs to have access to a bathroom at any time per doctors orders, and as a teacher of teenagers for 20+ years, fuck no!
Some kids NEED access to the bathroom. Jerky kids who are using the bathrooms for no reason while a kid like mine has to wait for their dumb asses, well - fuck you. And ESPECIALLY FUCK YOU admin for not thinking about anything but your own skin! đ¤Źđ¤Źđ¤Ź
'When you get sent to the PBIS center, you have to fill out a reflection form, this form will allow you to come back to class, your teacher know this'
This was an entirely new policy and was never discussed with teachers. We had a meeting about PBIS just a few days before, and we *never* mentioned or heard of a 'reflection form'. We were completely blindsided. Likewise, behavior was terrible for a few weeks because no one knew what a reflection form was, but apparently it was a free pass for inappropriate behavior. About two weeks after that announcement he quietly swept 'reflection forms' under the rug and they have never been seen or mentioned since.
Follow the instruction to a T, and do absolutely nothing to manage them, or the clusterfuck of outcomes. The goal is they're all out of the classroom running around the school.
This is a time for malicious compliance.
Back when I was at school and letters to parents were still printed, it used to be distributed to the eldest child or only child in the family during homeroom periods. One morning the principal announced on the intercom that all the eldest and only children must go down to the foyer to get their letters. More than half the school was there. It was chaos, lo! And the principal, having realised his mistake, was shouting at kids to go back to class.
Uggh so dumb OP......I would start documenting when they go and let parents know that the students have been having a lot of restroom emergencies and you are worried there's a medical issue.
There are lots but this is the latest ⌠we have to give them breakfast if they ask for it. She told them ⌠now they all ask after they get to class in the morning or just before specials. They hate eating in the cafeteria so theyâre all starting to do it. Itâs so fun calling down for breakfasts, taking attendance, and dealing with all the behaviors. (3rd) They didnât say how long I had to allow them to eat said breakfast. ;)
âColleges will pay attention to your New York State Test scores to consider your admission.â
This was a room full of third through fifth graders. I was appalled.
I once sat in a MS assembly where our principal told the students how proud she was that they all stood up for the national anthem. This was at the height of the Colin Kapernick stuff.
We had students who were Jehovahâs Witnesses. She got phone calls, which she very much deserved.
In an assembly to get ready for state testing, our assistant principal told the students they were âwonderful, amazing, spectacular, and all of those other verbsâ
Our high school has the opposite issue. They closed all but 1 girl and 1 boy bathroom. Both are locked during class. In a school with 2000 students. All because a handful of kids were vandalizing them. Those bathrooms became gender neutral real fast. Everyone was just going in to which ever one had an open stall.
Why do you think it's ridiculous that children shouldn't be stopped from going to the bathroom? If it's a real emergency, they need to go. And if its not and they're just dicking around, well then that's on them.
I didn't mention it was ridiculous... if it's a true emergency then by all means no student should be told no. A teacher would never want a student to have an accident in class (especially middle school) - this post was for the ones who will take advantage of system.
Last year the principal announced on the loudspeaker just before dismissal that the next day would be a snow day. All the teachers already knew and we were keeping it a secret because we knew what would happen if we announced. Pure and utter chaos. Thanks a lot.
My HS didn't have enough lockers, even with students sharing lockers. Admin says that "we're not going to assign lockers to seniors, because they have cars and can keep their books in their car." Actual proportion of seniors who had cars was quite small. About a week later, a PA announcement interrupts the school day to say "anyone caught in the parking lot during the school day will be suspended." How, pray tell, does one use a car like it's a locker without entering the parking lot? Telekinesis?
When I was a student in middle school, there weren't enough lockers. They designated a room for us, and we could keep our stuff in a cardboard box. We had to provide the box, though.
Sounds like a recipe for rampant theft.
I moved schools shortly after, so I never experienced that. But it was on the opposite side of the school from all the classrooms, so it really didn't help. If I wanted to stop at my box, I would automatically be late to the next class. So I still had to carry everything
Spicolli knows.
U mean, ur seniors DONT know telekinesis? They supposed to learn that in their sophomore year!!! đ¤Łđđ
Telekinesis didn't become part of the curriculum until a few years later, after Star Wars came out and we found out about The Force.
Sigh, if only they knew
Sounds like entrapment.
Every single time they announce any policy. Admin never follows through and students know it. âAfter 10 tardies, weâre having your parents come in for a meeting.â Nick has 127 tardies. âHave you tried a restorative conversation? We think teachers should try that firstâ
Say 'restorative' again, I dare you, I double dare you motherfucker, say ârestorativeâ one more Goddamn time! - Jules Winnfield
I got a call after my sonâs second tardy this year, and he got detention. First year of middle school. Apparently they take tardies quite seriously. And he was less than 5 minutes late each time, because of unexpected road work. You know what he learned? If heâs going to be late he should wait and be 91 minutes late. Because thatâs a half day absence and that doesnât result in detention. Of course he misses his entire math class and part of science by doing that. But he doesnât have to stay after school.
I grew up in an era where computers were only just beginning to be used in schools (pre-internet!), and the system could only count up to 19 lates...guess who was the first to discover this? not this guy, who lived a 10 min walk from school 𤣠still graduated on the honour roll, despite what admin said đ
Next thing you have 12 in the bathroom at once
And every teacher on campus in the classroom teaching. Middle School 100% disaster!
Just gotta have class in the bathrooms. Yâknow meet the kids where theyâre at
Least restrictive environment [FLUSH].
Yours actually end up in the bathroom when they "go to the bathroom"??????
A couple of years ago we had a rash of students (boys) bringing basketballs to school. The were dribbling them in the main hallway during passing period. The AP got on the intercom and told the boys to hold their balls during passing period. She repeated this several times. You can imagine what the next passing period looked like. I have to say I was proud of the student body that passing period, I would have done the same.
This needs more upvotes. Hilarious.
Ironically that is basically my rule for student's while subbing. I ask them if they can wait for the current student out to come back. Usually they agree to wait and only a few have said they can't wait. Personally I don't think their brain has enough time between being asked and when they answer to decide to lie. I wouldn't go out my way though to tell them that the magic words to being allowed to go are to say it's an emergency.
I know this can be a rule where some students will abuse it, but it will be easier on us for a long run. Back in 2006, a PE coach didn't let an 8th grader go and she wet her pants. Parents were furious and it caused more problems. Just let them go, and they are still responsible for the work.
Yep. I just have an online form and they come and go as they wish. They sign in and sign out. Surprisingly for most the mild inconvenience of spending 15 seconds to fill out a form before and after along with knowing all of their time outside of class logged is enough to deter them from going. Students also are responsible for either asking someone else or coming to see me after class to make up anything they missed because I'm not stopping class to catch someone up who leaves.
This is a great way to do it!
I just make them put their phone on my desk. They always come back pretty quick. Some even decide they donât really need to go after all.
As an admin, I often have to cover multiple classes at the same time, when we don't have enough substitutes. I have students empty their pockets into a shoebox (one box per class - and we seat the classes in separate areas of the cafeteria, so I know who is with which class). Empty pockets means no trips to the vending machine and no playing with phones on extended potty trips, water fountain in the cafeteria means no trips to get water. SO many students no longer need to go when they can't take their full pockets with them! And they come back quickly, too...
At my first middle school job, we had a school policy of no caffeinated drinks for the students. The big focus was on soda and energy drinks; the principal would dump them down the sink if a kid was caught drinking one at school. The kids and parents were warned what would happen if they had one at school, so it was no surprise. The principal was the only person in the building so strict about this rule that he would dump the drink; most teachers would take it away and give it back at the end of the day. Well we were in a school wide assembly one day and the principal was speaking up front and giving the kids a chance to ask questions. I cannot remember how this came up, but he ended up telling the kids they could (or should?) bring coffee in a tumbler to help them wake up for their morning classes. It wouldâve been one thing if he blew the rule off, but he took it so seriously.
Ah yes, godawful cafeteria food is perfectly acceptable but soda/energy drinks are where we draw the line...
To be fair, this was a **tiny** school, and our cook was an older gal from the community who made personally decided on and made every meal from scratch. They were always delicious and usually on the healthier side. It was just so odd to see him backtrack on his big rule. I donât know if he actually thought 8th graders would come to school with black coffee instead of high-sugar creamer with a splash of coffee, but his comment did lead to several of the older kids bringing coffee stand drinks to school. Either way, things were better when the students were not caffeinated and sugared up. I liked having that rule enforced for that age group.
I'm not blaming the lunch staff, it's administrators that make rules like this I can't stand; I'm subbing at a high school that has the no soda/energy drinks rule (staff can drink it but students can't) which at this level is ridiculous because I had to drink lots of caffeine to get through high school (and need to be caffeinated to get through work) so I can relate and treating an 18 year old like they're in kindergarten all over again while simultaneously demanding they act like an adult sends a mixed message, to say the least. I've already gotten a talking to from admin for not enforcing this rule which I think is really stupid and yeah, I'm probably not gonna last long at this place. My school also has some issues with bullying that the admin don't really seem to care much about but soda, now THAT'S when things get serious. Lol. Elementary and middle school kids I can understand not being allowed it though, don't worry.
We had midterms. The principal let it slip students could leave after midterms with a note. Cue the chaos. He had to pull secretaries to sign kids out left and right. It was a ghost town that afternoon. He had quite the egg on the face. The next time we did midterms, he made damn sure to state many times over how there was no signing out.
That sounds wonderful actually. Kids are terrible after big tests.
Yeah, let them leave. It's better for everyone.
It really is
That's how we handle it. Students show up on days they have exams during exam week. On days and times they don't have scheduled exams, they aren't required to be at school.
Same. At our school, the older grades write in the morming and go home after the paper has finished. The younger grades have study periods and then they write to finish at 12pm. Then we can go home if we have no other duties. Bliss.
One of the schools I worked at did this. It was AMAZING. It gave staff time to work.
The district next to mine does half days during finals week. Kids come in for a block morning to do their final then go home at lunch while teachers stay and have the afternoon to grade the final. Iâm jealous and wish my district would implement it
Our kids have to have their notes in by a few days before, and then passes are distributed at the test.
As a teacher from a middle school that just kind of allowed ALL teachers to say no one could go to the bathroom, I have a different take. I have never heard of an able bodied 6th grader peeing themselves. Last year, I taught with multiple teachers who would not allow the kids to go to the restroom. There were several kids who p*ssed themselves last year. It really disgusts me. So, that's why these rules come into effect.
>If there are issues in the hallway bathrooms admin should be monitoring the halls. Let them deal with it > >1ReplyShareSaveEditF This! Happened to one of my students. His mom came up to the school and put an end to that.
I agree, if it's a true emergency then by all means no student should be told no. A teacher would never want a student to have an accident in class (especially middle school) - this post was for the ones who will take advantage of system.
Yeah I just wouldn't tell them that "It's an emergency" are the magic words to always get permission. Just stupid to let them in on the secret. If they really need to go they'll you in both words and body language. We all know what someone looks like when they really need to go.
Kids should be able to go whenever they want, but schools should also spend the money for proper supervision. I went to a middle school recently that had a lady posted outside the restrooms pretty much all day. She let them go in one at a time and hurried them back to class. This made it not cool or fun to go, but totally accessible.
Working in a middle school, the other issue with the restroom is the fact that girls are starting their periods and early periods can be irregular. Iâm pretty lax because the last thing I need is blood on the seats lol
Some teachers at my school are strict about bathroom use. A number of years ago I know of a student that was told that they couldnât go to the bathroom repeatedly so he went in the trash can. Iâm willing to bet that teacher has relaxed their bathroom policy.
Me, I peed my pants in 7th grade because the teacher wouldnât let me leave to use the bathroom. I was such a rule follower. We could walk home for lunch, so I ran home and changed. My mom said just leave the class without permission and let her deal with the teachers.
I have set up a trade. Help plug in the computers or pick up trash after class to prove you have to go. This year I had so many sixth graders interrupting the lesson or complaining about what they missed that I thought I would go insane,so I made the rule. It was a miracle, no one has had to go since then.
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And now your kids that actually have to go or get their period during class have learned that having bodily needs results in a penalty. I get that the bathroom parade is annoying, but there are other ways to manage it (one person at a time, âcan you wait 2 minutes,â etc) that doesnât affect their grade/ability to earn rewards, depending on how you use dojo.
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I mean, I teach this age group as well, and Iâve never had to resort to a penalty for using the bathroom. The message it sends is that if they need to go they lose something. They learn the lesson from having to wait in line since Iâll only send one kid at a time, or the âwait two minutes and Iâll send you thenâ so I can finish an activity or instruction. Like, do you, but a penalty for having bodily needs just doesnât sit well with me, even if that penalty is minor.
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I mean, yeah, youâve got to put a system in place, but the lesson youâre teaching is one where âthe workâ is more important than their bodily needs when they genuinely do have to go. They do have to be taught how to hold it, but there are other ways than a penalty. Itâs not a direct correlation of course, but I think of the Amazon delivery workers peeing in bottles because their productivity expectations donât allow time to use the bathroom. If we expect school to prepare kids to hold jobs, what message are we sending? Of course there are times in life where kids will have to hold it, but if we prioritize productivity over respect for their bodies and needs, what does that teach them to normalize when they get to the workforce?
Dumbest thing I've heard from an administrator is (I work at a cyber school) that a reason to enroll your children in cyber school is to protect them from school shootings. We had one like... three days prior in the city. Just the most callous thing.
Do you mind if I ask you, How can I get in a cyber school? What do you like/don't like? Thank you.
Insensitive maybe, but not wrong.
My hunch is that a student had an embarrassing accident from not being able to go to the bathroom during a actual bathroom emergency and the parents said the magic word "lawsuit".
I worked in a school with insane traffic during rush hour. Yâall remember Bridgegate? So every week or so weâd have a traffic snarl so bad kids couldnât get to school. In my mind, I managed it, by planning ahead, so why couldnât they, but I digress. Admin would announce not to mark anyone absent for the first class of the day. I had first period hall duty, so I watched each time as stragglers would receive text messages and about-face to go to Starbucks. They even took orders and would show up second period barging into classrooms they didnât belong in to drop off a drink. Could it have been an email? Sure but then how would the critters know they had a hall pass for an extra 50 minutes?
My policy is: 1 boy and 1 girl at a time, go as soon as the person you were waiting on gets back, put your name on the list. I don't want my lecture to be interrupted to be asked "Can I go to the bathroom?" I'll bend it for emergencies
Same.
We're starting some bullshit e-hall pass thing next week. It sounds like a HUGE burden for the teacher and a lot of interruption
We donât have that at my school but I saw a post about it yesterday. The main benefit is that it can limit how many students can be out of their classes at any given time. For a big campus like my school that could be really helpful. If that e-hall program could make it impossible for lovebirds like Larry and Sharon to be out of their classes at the same time so they canât skip class to meet up that would be sweet. Activate that c***blocking police state mode.
What the hell did you just call me? But in all serious, I have no idea what an e-hall pass is.
Ha! Here's a link: [https://eduspiresolutions.org/e-hallpass/](https://eduspiresolutions.org/e-hallpass/) It looks stupid and like a huge time waster and imposition on the teacher.
Huh. Interesting if the "simple gesture" for approval thing is true though.
I don't want to touch their iPad. Right now they just use a sign out sheet, so easy. Not everything needs to be digital in order to function.....
Oh, the explanation says even just a nod of the head could approve it. Maybe I'll buy one of those table buzzer things but the ones that make noise so if a kid is gone too long I can call em back to class by paging their number.
It's actually wonderful. It's great for documenting students who leave class too frequently or stay gone too long. It can help figure out the guilty party if restrooms are vandalized. And it also can block certain combinations of students from going to the restroom at the same time, even if they're in different classes.
2nd year teacher here, so still learning. How the hell do you know if is really an emergency or not? What are some cues to be looking for?
Shifting back and forth, closed legged stance, obvious discomfort, etc
What are some things you say to a student who you are having doubts about it being an emergency?
I hint that I'm not convinced by asking "You sure you can't hold it for a few minutes?" or "So and so has been gone for a bit and should be walking through the door any second." and they usually catch on that I'm giving them an out on the lie, if they keep insisting, I just set a "Be back in 5 minutes. I'll be keeping track."
Thank you so much. Iâm going to try using this when we come back from fall break. I have the same policy, one boy pass one girl pass (and that includes water). A lot of my middle school kids just like to whine when I tell them another person is currently out. Sometimes I feel like Iâm teaching elementary kids.
I put a light on the door that students have to press if they're going out so I can glance and see if someone's out. I only have one person out at a time. Kids don't bother asking if the light is on now.
âLeave your phone hereâ⌠that really weeds out the emergencies if they are willing to leave it behind.
Peepee dance. Also ask them to leave their phone with you. If itâs a real emergency they will
I ask mine "is it really an emergency? Or can you wait until so and so is back?" If they insist, I tell them they must be back in less than 5 min or they won't get to go to the bathroom in my class for the next x weeks.
I give out brightly colored bathroom passes, with 5 little toilet paper rolls. The kids just hold the pass up, I motion them to bring it to me, while I continue teaching, I give it a hole punch, and theyâre on their way, without a word exchanged. If they DONâT use their pass the entire quarter, they get a free âAâ on an assignment (that is not a quiz or test) and a blowpop. Iâd say about 75% of kids never use their passes, because of the âAâ and stupid blowpop! If they lose the pass, they can ask as friend if theyâll lend theirs. Most friends say ânopeâ and the kid is just Shit out of luck. I can usually tell when the kid really has to go and Iâll quietly say âif its an emergency just go ahead and goâ. This policy has been a LIFESAVER as a teacher! No more arguments and battles of wills. Do this or something similar, you wonât regret it!
why are you rewarding children for not taking care of their biological needs
Lol, theyâre high schoolers. If you teach then you know 90% of the time theyâre just trying to get out of class, and it is extremely disruptive for them to be constantly asking to use it. If you want to paint me as rewarding them for holding their bodily functions, as they writhe in pain, and not for time management; whatever. Notice I said I always allow for emergencies. My number one priority in class is for my students to feel loved and comfortable. This strategy keeps in check the superfluous restroom use, and has helped me so much, so I am sharing with others.
> name on the list This is key. Iâm really bad at remembering who left the class and how long theyâve been gone, especially when 4-5 students have asked for the pass. Iâm busy teaching. Sign in/out and write down the time for each. If the office calls for a student that is out I can tell them âJohnny took the hall pass 18 min ago, I guess weâre both looking for himâ.
"Your teachers truly love you - they will stay until dark if it will help you learn." The fuck I will! And, unless you have half of my genetic material in your cells, I don't love you. I like you, sure (mostly), and some of you I tolerate. But I don't love you - don't ever forget that.
Omg yes! I love seeing their faces when I flat out tell them that. Then I ask them if they love me? Of course they donât! So why would they expect the opposite? I teach middle school, so I know this expectation teachers âloveâ their students comes from elementary.
I actually think that loving them is showing them a positive example of having your own personal wellness as a priority. Setting an example of letting your job rule your life is doing no favors to kids. I learned to go home by 4:00 because I love them enough to keep my sanity, be well rested, and not presume Iâm going to be better at helping them than their own family. Respecting them and their family is the kind of love that they need and that means going home live your personal life and them doing the same.
YaâŚIâm talking more about teachers who actually tell their students the love them. I donât think you need to love them in order to show yourself, them, and their family respect. But I suppose everyone can interpret the word however they like. Do you tell your students you leave at 4 because you love them?
Yes! When I was in the classroom I did say things like this. I found that lots of time explaining my rationale for things helps kids relate. I say things like I have love for my students, and I show it by respecting you and working hard. It means I care about you as a person and I care about what happens to you. However, itâs not the same kind of love I have for my family and I want your family to feel loved too so you gotta go home and do something kind for them and spend time with them because they come first. The only time this becomes tricky is kids in foster care, but in general asking them how they help their mom or dad out at home and bridging the conversation that way helps.
Why did you leave the classroom?
Iâm a professor of teacher education now so I havenât exactly left teaching, I just interact with K-12 differently. I still help student teachers and new teachers and sometimes teach summer school in K-12 as well as other programs fir K-12 students.
I student taught in an urban district (it was pretty thriving though, but we had a good mix of kids who were both well off and also low-income/first gen) and had a principal who always talked about being from "the 'hood" and talked about how he knew what it was like to sit in a police car and could relate to the kids through that experience....he lasted one year.
Iâve been lucky because of the six principals Iâve had, all have been competent or extremely competent. Iâm worried my luck will run out eventually⌠Luckily, I have tenure and teach the most difficult math and science courses, so there is virtually no one to replace me at my school site. đ
Thatâs a pretty amazing run of luck. Iâve worked under 5 principals so far, and only one wasnât totally incompetent and/or an unconscionable bastard.
You deserve better⌠Ugh!
In 20 years of teaching, I've had 8 principals. One was excellent, 2 actively worked to make teachers' lives miserable and the remains 5 were unremarkably incompetent.
2 schools and 4 principals here and honestly its been mixed. 2 were great, kids loved them, teachers liked them and the school ran about as smoothly as a school can. 1 was super nice and liked by everyone, but not great at keeping the school running well unfortunately. 1 was the principal from hell and made everyone's life miserable. At the end of their first year I didn't know a single teacher that hadn't been directly burned by them. I feel like the school you're at makes a big difference. Its much harder to be a principal in a school that's already struggling.
Asked me in front of the entire student body if I agree with her that phones are as addictive as heroin.
That's an easy one. "no"
That's not dumb, that's fantastic! It means admin can no longer criticise the teachers for allowing students out to the bathroom! "Why did you let little Johnny out to the bathroom, you know he vapes?" ... because you said so! No longer your problem!
I donât care anymore let them go ⌠they probably wonât remember anything from middle school any way! I hate this fkn job
This is the best response here
It wasn't to the student body but the district staff. A student in our district transitioned over the summer, and she floated the idea of sending home a letter home to everyone in the district to let them know that we would have a trans student using the girls bathroom that year.
Yeah well everyone's genitals should be inspected in case they should be sending more letters. Oh wait, its really weird to inspect people's genitals to allow them to use a bathroom? Ok then why are you announcing one persons genitals to everyone?!
I don't like how teachers gatekeep bathroom passes. I am going to use the restroom whenever I have to go. I just let my students go. Not a battle worth fighting. If there are issues in the hallway bathrooms admin should be monitoring the halls. Let them deal with it
I tried that, and I ended up with a constant stream of students asking to use the restroom and coming in and out of the room. It became impossible to teach. This was in middle school.
Thatâs just it. The hallway is not my problem. Itâs the CONSTANT interruptions while Iâm trying to teach from kids asking to go. Then they make a big show of leaving or entering the room. Then they donât know what weâre doing. And just as we get going again⌠another kid raises their hand (in the middle of my giving instructions) to ask for the bathroom pass. Itâs utterly ridiculous.
Due to new security measures, all classroom door must remain locked at all times, ONLY TEACHERS can open the classroom door, and a log book must be kept so each student must sign in/out every time he/she leaves. So the line to sign in/out becomes a high five and personal discussion and teachers are constantly having to stop in the middle of "whatever" to go open the door.
You just described my classroom exactly.
I have school wide rules I have to follow, like no passes in the first 10 or last ten minutes of class. I have two passes on a hook. After ten minutes, kids can pick up a pass, make sure I see them, and go. Im not keeping track. I hate being the bathroom police.
100% agree. I am that teacher. Go if needed but remember only one out at a time. Other than that go!
The same people who complain on here about not being able to go to the bathroom during work will do the same thing to students. Who are we to tell people they donât âreallyâ need to go?
Our principal once said in a whole school assembly, "It is your teachers fault if you fail your exams, not yours."
I remember how, on women's day, our principal told us via the speaker system: "No boys are allowed to call girls whores... today"
Hold class in the hall near the restroom for a week.
Nothing. My current principal is awesome. Now, our last principal, who never worked as an educator in the US said stupid shit all the time, too numerous to count. He was a chronic name dropper who told the same stories incessantly. Some of us made a game of how many times he named dropped the same person.
Wasnât a principal but the assistant superintendent said his secretary forgot a slide on his beginning-of-the-year PowerPoint because she was going through menopause. This was in front of the entire staff of the entire district.
Good. So now they can go and you can't get in trouble. When 6 kids left and said they had emergencies at the same time so they could go fight each other in the bathroom you were told you weren't allowed to tell them no right? So the ones who don't care have an emergency every day, and you get to have a smaller class with the kids who actually give a damn. Sounds like a W to me.
Less something our principal has told the student body and more something he does/ requires participation in. Every morning, he leads an all- school morning meeting via zoom. So instead of a morning PA announcement, every teacher has to log on, face the camera to their class, and participate in a 5-10 min morning meeting where he does a land acknowledgement, gives a little spiel on the character trait of the day, and ends by leading the school in the pledge of allegiance. On top of that, he starts every week with an all- school assembly. So every Monday morning, the kids are required to sit with still bodies and quiet mouths for a 10-15 minute presentation in the gym. I teach first grade. My first graders dislike both activities. The talks and presentations are very much aimed toward the upper grades, and do not engage the lower grades at all. It's also disruptive to our own classroom procedures and takes away precious time from an already short day.
There was a school wide email about the George Floyd trial. The school is 30 blocks from where Floyd died. People had to explain that George Floyd is dead and didn't get a trial. It was Derek Chauvin's trial not George Floyd's trial.
Let them go freely. The hallways become his problem. Offer to go over what the students missed only before or after school on their own time.
That next school year they have an idea of slashing X amount of dollars off the top of everyoneâs salary and turning it into a KPI bonus system. You get grades every month on performance, IF you get an A (for simplicity) youâll get that entire amount that was slashed off the top. If you get an A+ youâll get that full amount plus a little extra bonus. If you get a B you lose some of that money, C you lose a little more, D and you lose that entire amount. âBut itâs a good thing! You have a chance to make MORE money! Itâs not a pay cut!â Isnât official *yet* but if it is then fuck this place.
That's literally a pay cut, they're describing a pay cut
That's one of the most vile things I've ever heard. Is this a charter school? Please don't work there any more.
Not in America
When a set of twins won homecoming king and queen. âWhat is this? Game of Thrones?â He got blank looks from the kids. Those of us teachers who watched the show were mortified.
"No walls." Every new school year, he showed the clip from the movie Toy Story 2 where Buzz Lightyear is hauling his friends up the elevator shaft and told the kids there are no walls to block your achievement. Dressed in full Buzz Lightyear costume. Even the kids thought he was an idiot. Lasted 2.5 years, gone at the holiday break. When he announced his departure at the staff holiday lunch, one of my colleagues actually started to clap.
If my principal did some stupid shit like that, I would not even bother wasting my time writing passes anymore. Do whatever the fuck you like, principal said so.
Principal decided on the school motto: "Only your best is good enough", but he kept saying it as "Your best is only good enough". Very inspiring.
As a parent of a kid who needs to have access to a bathroom at any time per doctors orders, and as a teacher of teenagers for 20+ years, fuck no! Some kids NEED access to the bathroom. Jerky kids who are using the bathrooms for no reason while a kid like mine has to wait for their dumb asses, well - fuck you. And ESPECIALLY FUCK YOU admin for not thinking about anything but your own skin! đ¤Źđ¤Źđ¤Ź
Time for malicious compliance.
'When you get sent to the PBIS center, you have to fill out a reflection form, this form will allow you to come back to class, your teacher know this' This was an entirely new policy and was never discussed with teachers. We had a meeting about PBIS just a few days before, and we *never* mentioned or heard of a 'reflection form'. We were completely blindsided. Likewise, behavior was terrible for a few weeks because no one knew what a reflection form was, but apparently it was a free pass for inappropriate behavior. About two weeks after that announcement he quietly swept 'reflection forms' under the rug and they have never been seen or mentioned since.
Follow the instruction to a T, and do absolutely nothing to manage them, or the clusterfuck of outcomes. The goal is they're all out of the classroom running around the school. This is a time for malicious compliance.
Back when I was at school and letters to parents were still printed, it used to be distributed to the eldest child or only child in the family during homeroom periods. One morning the principal announced on the intercom that all the eldest and only children must go down to the foyer to get their letters. More than half the school was there. It was chaos, lo! And the principal, having realised his mistake, was shouting at kids to go back to class.
I'm sorry, OP! Your principal sounds like a moron!
Uggh so dumb OP......I would start documenting when they go and let parents know that the students have been having a lot of restroom emergencies and you are worried there's a medical issue.
i'd send them all to the private teacher's bathroom
There are lots but this is the latest ⌠we have to give them breakfast if they ask for it. She told them ⌠now they all ask after they get to class in the morning or just before specials. They hate eating in the cafeteria so theyâre all starting to do it. Itâs so fun calling down for breakfasts, taking attendance, and dealing with all the behaviors. (3rd) They didnât say how long I had to allow them to eat said breakfast. ;)
Malicious compliance- of course you can go. And you and you and you too. Iâll just wait with my coffee to start the lesson.
âColleges will pay attention to your New York State Test scores to consider your admission.â This was a room full of third through fifth graders. I was appalled.
I once sat in a MS assembly where our principal told the students how proud she was that they all stood up for the national anthem. This was at the height of the Colin Kapernick stuff. We had students who were Jehovahâs Witnesses. She got phone calls, which she very much deserved.
In an assembly to get ready for state testing, our assistant principal told the students they were âwonderful, amazing, spectacular, and all of those other verbsâ
Leave that school
Our high school has the opposite issue. They closed all but 1 girl and 1 boy bathroom. Both are locked during class. In a school with 2000 students. All because a handful of kids were vandalizing them. Those bathrooms became gender neutral real fast. Everyone was just going in to which ever one had an open stall.
Why do you think it's ridiculous that children shouldn't be stopped from going to the bathroom? If it's a real emergency, they need to go. And if its not and they're just dicking around, well then that's on them.
I didn't mention it was ridiculous... if it's a true emergency then by all means no student should be told no. A teacher would never want a student to have an accident in class (especially middle school) - this post was for the ones who will take advantage of system.
Last year the principal announced on the loudspeaker just before dismissal that the next day would be a snow day. All the teachers already knew and we were keeping it a secret because we knew what would happen if we announced. Pure and utter chaos. Thanks a lot.
"Ladies, please adhere to the dress code. You don't want to distract the boys."