School Restroom Policy

[Leo Ghost]

After several months of vandalism my school decided to implement a new restroom policy today, and i'd like to debate whether or not it seems like a good idea.

Our school used to require you to get a "hall pass" in order to leave class, and from there you were free to pee as needed. This has all been changed to a much more strict policy. Now you are required to get a hall pass, travel to 1 of 2 open restrooms, sign in (they have an attendant sitting there with a clipboard, seriously), go about your ways, and then sign back out. Doesn't seem like too horrid of an idea, right? I decided to test their theory today by making 3 trips myself throughout the day.

8AM
Please also note that this week is state sponsored standardized testing, so the first 2 hours of the school day are "locked down" - meaning now hall access period. I am an exception as I know the right people. I left class and headed to the restroom, it was locked. Seeing as no one should have been in the hall, there wasn't a person there, so I went to the office and used the nurse's restroom. Off to a great start.

After Lunch
Oh the wonders of lunch. This is probably the best time to pee, as the teachers won't let you go after words (you just had all lunch to go!). So I walked down the hall only to see a poor freshman with the clipboard, I honestly felt sorry for the kid. Behind me were 6' tall upperclassmen, and here was a 4' freshman, who was assigned the task of forcing them to do something other than what they wanted. I signed in and bolted fast as I could. Once finished I had to fight my way out, as a crowd had gathered around the freshman, everyone trying to sign in so they could go. I ran back to class and managed to get in before the bell rang (I wasn't late), however it seems those who behind me in line missed about 25 minutes of class time due to the line for the bathroom. Plans working perfectly, right?

On the way to the finial class
I decided i'd see if the clipboard was still there, so I ducked in. Nope, our vice principle had replaced it. Yup, a grown man of 30 years, standing in a high school men's restroom watching us pee. I'm not even sure that's legal :shrug:

Now, it's important to note that our school is a newer building and has a state-of-the-art security camera system. Everything we do is recorded, including who travels in / out of the restroom. Why don't they just check the tapes?

Is it legal for the school to collect time logs of restroom use of minors? Currently employers are NOT allowed to collect restroom logs of their employees, however they may force you to clock in / out if they feel you take too much time in there. Is this a privacy concern? We weren't given any type of notice informing us where the information would be stored, or who all could access it. Personally, I don't want a "dump" of my "dump" times to be public record.

 

[Gimgak]

Honestly there isn't anything you can do. My school just decided to close down the guy's restrooms only last year, so we couldn't go to the bathroom if we wanted to. They re-opened them sometime in November or so when they saw this was working out.

Also the last thing, there isn't much you can do. You don't have rights when you're in school, freedom is left outside.

 

[Bossanova]

Are you facking serious? A bathroom attendant? Well hell, why don't the attendant just hold your jacket while you crap and/or piss. I don't know if it's legal, but I'm sure in the hell hoping it's not. That is a bunch of BS.

Student: *peeing*

Attendant: *Watches*

Student: Can I help you?

 

[Gimgak]

Are you facking serious? A bathroom attendant? Well hell, why don't the attendant just hold your jacket while you crap and/or piss. I don't know if it's legal, but I'm sure in the hell hoping it's not. That is a bunch of BS.

Student: *peeing*

Attendant: *Watches*

Student: Can I help you?

I'm pretty sure 40 year old dudes watching minors piss is legal.

 

[StripesAndFins]

at my school we have a sign out sheet that we use before and after we leave the classroom. I don't see whats so bad about that, but the principal in the restroom with us would be horrible *shudders*

 

[cityStatic]

Are you facking serious? A bathroom attendant? Well hell, why don't the attendant just hold your jacket while you crap and/or piss. I don't know if it's legal, but I'm sure in the hell hoping it's not. That is a bunch of BS.

Student: *peeing*

Attendant: *Watches*

Student: Can I help you?

I'm pretty sure 40 year old dudes watching minors piss is legal.

That school is a

 

[Watch Me Sink]

My school officially uses a sign out of class and take a pass system. It is hardly ever enforced, and half my teachers allow one to just walk out of class to use the restroom. Asking takes up class time.
Once out of class, it is hardly strict. You can walk around the perimeter hallways without being caught, and wander back into class 5-8 minutes later. I rarely do this though, unless a class is particularly boring.

Our security cameras are only in the cafeteria, exterior, and in the offices (maybe a couple hallways).

I suggest you challenge the legality of the vice principle in a restroom while minors are in it. From the way you described the situation, it sounded like the man was in the restroom, perhaps near some sinks or hand dryers. If that is the case, I would bring it to the Board of Education of your school district's attention. If he was just standing outside of the restroom, separated by a door or some other means, it is probably legal. I'm not too sure.

 

[bekah]

That is what it is like all the time aqt my school. i hate it

 

[katy perry is hot]

I have a similar situation as Kirisute. Most of my teachers just say go to the bathroom, and no one asks any questions about a pass or anything when I'm in the hallway. We get these planners at the beginning of the year that have the school logo and codebook in it and we are supposed to write our homework there, and in the way back it has a list that the teacher is supposed to sign, we are supposed to write the exact time out and in, the date, etc, but no teachers do that. I usually just write some random date and put bathroom and then the teacher signs it. You can try lobbying for a thing like that in your school, ask your student government or council or w/e they call it people.

 

[Raymond]

My school it needs to be unlocked =/ as we only have individual bathrooms

 

[Leo Ghost]

I have a similar situation as Kirisute. Most of my teachers just say go to the bathroom, and no one asks any questions about a pass or anything when I'm in the hallway. We get these planners at the beginning of the year that have the school logo and codebook in it and we are supposed to write our homework there, and in the way back it has a list that the teacher is supposed to sign, we are supposed to write the exact time out and in, the date, etc, but no teachers do that. I usually just write some random date and put bathroom and then the teacher signs it. You can try lobbying for a thing like that in your school, ask your student government or council or w/e they call it people.

Actually, we have the same planners at my school, and up until today we didn't even need to get them signed (just carry them with us). Thanks for reminding me of this topic lol, I forgot =.=

So this morning I asked my teacher to go, and headed off. I went to sign in, and yeah they decided to ask for my signed agenda. Of course my teacher had just told me to "go" and didn't sign it, so I walked all the way back to class, got it signed, then walked down to student services, signed in, went, signed out, and then went back to class.

Total time wasted: 15 minutes.

 

[Watch Me Sink]

How great our public school systems are, a complete bureaucracy.

 

[Nebulous]

Lets weigh the options...

Option 1: Let vandalism continue and the school district pays thousands of dollars per year (money it probably cant afford to spend) to correct the vandalisim.

Option 2: Make some kid stand out front of the bathroom (for free) or send staff in to keep track of things and prevent more costly damage.

I think option two is more attractive to the school district.

 

[Leo Ghost]

Lets weigh the options...

Option 1: Let vandalism continue and the school district pays thousands of dollars per year (money it probably cant afford to spend) to correct the vandalisim.

Option 2: Make some kid stand out front of the bathroom (for free) or send staff in to keep track of things and prevent more costly damage.

I think option two is more attractive to the school district.

And I don't disagree that they should start doing something to stop the vandalism, don't get me wrong there. Being a user of the restroom myself, i'll admit they were getting horrid. However, I think they could have handled it in a more mature way themselves, using the camera system they already have in place rather than using pointless scare tactics that won't solve anything, just make the "good" users suffer, almost like DRM.

 

[Nebulous]

What if a group goes in? What if they are wearing clothing that makes it impossible to determine their identity (like a hooded sweatshirt or whatever)..

 

[Leo Ghost]

If a group goes it and damage is done while the group is in there, it's reasonable to pull the group out of class and question them each separately about it, as they do with fights, drug deals, and other forms of group based crimes that take place at my school.

As for hoodies, you are not allowed to wear your hood up in the building, and no hats or masks are allowed at any time. You'd have a hell of a time managing to get to the bathroom from a classroom while wearing something like that without passing by a teacher who would red flag it (seeing how many school shootings there have been).

As I said before, I have no issue with them doing something to help protect their property and make them safer for everyone, however there are better methods for dealing with this stuff. It's almost like doing a drug screening before you can eat lunch every day... rather than doing random screenings at random times to random amounts of students, which would be far more effective as people wouldn't know when exactly they were going to be tested.

Anyway, I haven't been in school for a few days (was out Friday and now Monday), so i'll have to see the changes they've made once I return.

 

[death180]

Kinda bringing back an old topic here, but is this still going on?

If so, start making things even more akward. Try starting a conversation.
Get a few friends to go in there and start talking about each other's penis's, or something of that nature.
Make the attendant unconfortable.
If they yell at you for that, just say you were nervous and you start doing weird stuff when your nervous.

Oh i got a good one,

When you leave, give the attendant a tip.

Be like, *put change in his hand*, "there ya go, go get a gumball or something."

 

[Taco Wiz]

Honestly there isn't anything you can do. My school just decided to close down the guy's restrooms only last year, so we couldn't go to the bathroom if we wanted to. They re-opened them sometime in November or so when they saw this was working out.

In all seriousness, I think they only way to hold it for 7 hours would be to whack off and get an erection. It'd be quite interesting seeing how one could hide that. Does your school have big desks?


Yes, I'm serious here.

 

[death180]

what does that have to do with anything?

And is that really appropriate?

 

[Cloverfield]

I went just before I left for school so I never really had to use the school toilets.