What is your bathroom policy?

amother

Navy

Fri, Jul 05 2019, 3:49 pm

This is interesting to see different views... In my personal opinion the best/most effective policy I ever had in school was - there was a sign in and out paper on the door with a pen, if a student had to leave for wtvr reason - bathroomm, water or just to take a walk to let out energy (and yes she knew it was being used as that) you'd write your name with time on and when you came back the time also - that way I assume she was able to look over in case something was fishy and speak to the girl

Officially it was a 1 girl at a time rule but she said if you see the girl whose out isn't coming back and you have a real emergency you can go also.....

teachkids

Fri, Jul 05 2019, 4:01 pm

Middle school girls:
We have a hand signal. They're expected to do it quietly and I'll either tell them to go or wait till I finish directions or wait till another girl comes back. If they ask again before that happens, I just let them go figuring it's urgent. If a girl disturbs class when she leaves or comes back in she gets 1 warning before she's not allowed to go during my class again.

pizza4

Fri, Jul 05 2019, 4:14 pm

I don't see why you need a policy for this. Not everything needs to be a strict rule.
If a girl needs to go she can raise her hand and the teacher can say, sure.
If your class is interesting enough, the girls shouldn't be requesting to go out so much. And if the teacher finds that a girl is going out very often, the teacher can have a discussion with the girl about it and find out if she just needs the bathroom or leg stretching. And help her accordingly.
It doesn't have to be an issue.
In my school days, if the teacher didn't allow me to leave I would simply get up and leave.
They're little and the times of recess and lunch don't work for everyone. Not to mention when they reach 7th grade...
I had a teacher ask me, what took you so long. Lol.

Zehava

Fri, Jul 05 2019, 4:26 pm

Please for the love of god
These are girls who are getting their periods for the first time. How would you like an employer denying your bathroom use?
I vividly recall in seventh grade bleeding and having unbearable cramps, and the teacher telling me if I go out I’ll have to stay out until recess. That’s what I did.

amother

Seashell

Fri, Jul 05 2019, 4:28 pm

Tell the students you trust them to be mature and not abuse their freedom, and let them just go. Don't make a big deal out of girls going to the bathroom--it's dehumanizing for them to have to make an announcement to the class every time they need to go.

amother

White

Fri, Jul 05 2019, 4:57 pm

I teach public middle school. I tell the kids at the beginning of the year that they shouldn't ask during lessons/directions (unless it's an emergency), but that part of class is usually no more than 10-15 minutes. Otherwise they just ask and I almost always say yes(unless I suspect something is going down in the bathroom because all their friends are out there). During independent work when I'm conferencing with kids, they are allowed to sign out and go one (of each gender) at a time.

The one at a time thing is just a way to keep a handle on it because at that age, kids will take advantage and have little meetings in the bathroom. There's nothing wrong with that kind of policy as long as you're sensitive to kids who have an emergency, and you don't penalize everyone if one kid is out for an unreasonable amount of time.

notshanarishona

Fri, Jul 05 2019, 5:27 pm

It's easy to say let the girls go whenever they ask but in real life you would end up with no class then . I officially let one at a time but if it's an emergency I will let others . The girls who abuse it/ have "emergencies " a few times a day I make wait until no one else is out unless their mothers have spoken to me.

singleagain

Fri, Jul 05 2019, 5:27 pm

I remember in third grade one of the things that made my teacher "scary" was that she would go into the boys bathroom if the boys were taking too long. There was also one boy who sometimes needed a chaperone to make sure he didn't drink from the water fountain. I guess she thought he'd take extra drinks to have to leave multiple times. If it was an abuse of the system I get it... But I don't know the reasons or what the story... But it must have some impression on me since third grade was in the mid 90s.

amother

Seashell

Fri, Jul 05 2019, 5:36 pm

notshanarishona wrote:

I exist in the real world and have been in plenty of classrooms, all with this "open-door policy", and there were no problems.

amother

Linen

Fri, Jul 05 2019, 6:23 pm

My teacher in 7th grade would tell us often that a normal person only uses the bathroom once in morning, one after school and once before bed.... Any respect I had for her quickly dissipated.....

amother

Pink

Fri, Jul 05 2019, 6:41 pm

So here are my thoughts...
1) too many kids in the bathroom at once is both not productive (there's only so many stalls - at least in my school!) and definitely leads to shmoozing and sometimes playing around. I once walked into the bathroom (not during a time I was teaching) and saw 2 of my students trying to climb up on a toilet to look over the next stall. Needless to say they are not going to the bathroom together after that!!
2) if a student has a medical need the parents MUST inform the teacher. I will always accommodate medical needs but you can't expect me to guess that.
3) if a student DOESN'T have a chronic medical issue, then if they generally don't abuse going to the bathroom the teacher will understand and accommodate in case of an emergency. Otherwise, it's the boy who cried wolf... especially if you have an "emergency" every time you're asked to start independent work etc....

ETA 4) it's absolutely reasonable to have a student wait 5 min for the last person to return. What would you do if you were driving and there was no rest stop or gas station?!

amother

Pink

Fri, Jul 05 2019, 8:09 pm

amother [ Seashell ] wrote:

If I were driving and there was no rest stop or gas station, I'd pull off to the side of the road if desperate enough.

But would you become desperate in 5 minutes?! Again this is assuming no medical issues (which the teacher should be informed of if they exist!)

amother

Hotpink

Sat, Jul 06 2019, 10:51 pm

I had a teacher that when we asked her if we can use the bathroom she said "Make believe youre on a train"

Last edited by amother on Sat, Jul 06 2019, 10:56 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

Hotpink

Sat, Jul 06 2019, 10:55 pm

I had a teacher that was so good that no one felt the need to take a break. If someone needed the bathroom, you wait till the one whos out comes back and you just walk out. No one even noticed when someone was leaving it was totally not disruptive