Students have a right to relieve themselves when needed. Students should be allowed to take bathroom breaks during class when desired.
The Institute of Medicine suggests the average person should consume between seven and nine glasses of liquids each day. However, the average bladder will hold eight to 16 ounces of liquids, with an urge to urinate developing after the bladder is filled with approximately 10 ounces. Therefore, students who choose to hydrate themselves throughout the day will eventually have to visit the toilet.
However, some teachers believe that students’ trips to the restroom are disruptive and unnecessary. According to the UCLA Medical Center, holding urine in the body for prolonged periods of time can lead to bladder problems such as urinary tract infections (UTI). Weighing a student’s options, a five minute break for fresh air seems considerably more appealing than a trip to the physician and urinary disorders lasting for weeks. Holding in urine may also do more harm than good. A pupil will not concentrate on the work at hand, instead focusing on his discomfort.
Some teachers only allow students a limited number of trips to the bathroom each semester. This policy is ridiculous. Bathroom passes should be limited to middle school hallways only. A student can only control his urges to a certain extent before the teacher finds herself cleaning up an unpleasant mess. Emergencies exist, whether it is a bad burrito from the lunch line or “Aunt Flo’s” unpleasant monthly visit to female students.
Other teachers will allow a student to leave for the bathroom only if he asks for permission. This policy is disruptive. During class, a student’s request will interrupt his classmates’ attention and focus. This is especially irritating during a movie or lecture. Instead, students should be able to quietly slip in and out of class as needed, limiting disturbances.
Staff members claim that students should instead use the restroom in between classes, at brunch or at lunch. However, the passing period is sometimes barely enough time to walk from the gym to the science building. At brunch or lunch, students are often busy with other obligations such as club activities or meeting a teacher for aid. Students cannot be expected to sync their bladders to such times during the day.
Certain teachers believe that students take the opportunity to leave the classroom and roam the campus and slack off. However, just like homework, it is the student’s choice if he wants to miss a portion of an important lecture and relieve himself or hold it in.
The issue comes down to trust and responsibility. Teachers need to trust their students and the pupils need to be held accountable for information they miss while away.
Furthermore, some teachers leave their classes to use the staff bathrooms on many occasions. Therefore, students should also have the same right.
Some teachers are already implementing effective policies regarding excursions to the bathroom. In an effort to prevent a student from leaving class to text message or talk on his cell phone, the policy requires the student to leave his cell phone at the front of the classroom before leaving. The phone also acts as collateral to ensure the student returns to class.
Students have the right to use the bathroom as they please. Teachers cannot force students to hold in their urine or prevent students from drinking water. Unless teachers want to provide students with bedpans, they must edit their policies regarding quick, discreet trips to the bathroom.
Here are some classroom rules for high school with (self-contained elementary) I taught sixth grade both self contained and departmentalized and choral music K-12.
1. When students first arrive in room before the tardy bell rings they may place books on desk to show that there are present, then go to the restroom.
In general, students should have three minutes after putting books on desk to be back to the room. The teacher can use a stop watch to check to see if the layout of the school plant need more or less time. Tardy bell at three minutes and then three more minutes before students are counted tardy. Large schools that take seven minutes to get from the farthest class to the classroom would then have 10 minutes to be back in class and ready to work.
My Professional Opinion is that it is physical abuse to make a child sit there is obvious pain from needing to go to the restroom, emotional abuse from either wetting pants or the trauma of trying to hold it. It may be sexual abuse if the teacher gets any kind of thrill watching a child in desperation or actually wetting pants. This being a high school paper, I won't be graphic here. There are adult censors for the paper I'm sure. That is another discussion.
RATIONALE: When I taught Kindergarten, the K teachers SENT every student to the restroom right before music. The K teachers then sent EVERY student to the restroom after returning ot he room from music. (50 minutes) Rare to have a student ask to leave. If students start class with an empty bladder, they most likely will not have to leave class unless they have some other problem except needing to pee. Some classes came to music and hadn't had a break in a while. Students were asking rather frequently. I let them all go. I only had a one toilet restroom so taking them all at one time wasn't feasible. So I let them go one and a time while we had music. In this grade level the students were coming to music with their bladders half more more full. Small wonder that they would be asking to leave class to go pee.
To prevent abuse, I would counsel with the student to see why teh student was leaving class every day or leaving when a certain part of the lesson is being covered the student doesn't is
2. During class if a need should arise that the student needs the restroom now and not later, the student is to sign the restroom book. If there are school rules about passes, then add them to your procedures.
I would only have them sign their name and time they left and when they returned. In general, three minutes should be enough time unless they are sick or the restrooms are a distance away. Adjust time as needed here.
Rationale: By having students sign a sheet and then leave and go quietly then there is less distraction to the class. if you the teacher can see the restrooms of both boys and girls then I see no problem with one boy and one girl out at the wame time. If the restroom doors and NOT visable from the teacher's classroom door, it may be wise to only have on student out at a time. Since the studnet isn't disturbing the teacher. I would not worry about any "appropriate and any unapropriate times to leave class.
3. Dire emergencies. These are different from those in rule number two. Dire emergencies are emergencies where bodily fluids are going to be expelled from the body in a short time regardless where the student is at the time. I would send a student to check on the student that has suddenly and quickly bolted from the room. I would send a student to Detention if I was sure that the students used this "dire emergency" to get out of class and get into trouble.
Rationale: Will vomit on the classroom floor help keep learning and help keep the students on the learning? NO. It is the next period, do you want to sit in the seat where the previous student had a serious colon disturbance and mess through his/her pants and completely mess up the seat? Do you want to sit in the seat where just last period a student wet his pants making a huge puddle?
Conclusion:
Will the student whose bladder is not almost past capacity and is shaking in his chair, tears running down his/her face because the student is more aware than anyone that before the period ends, his/she will have pee their pants? Add to that the disruption of the student requesting repeatedly please let me go because I am about to...wet pants vomit, mess in pants, soil panties, (girls) Which teacher reading this is going to say that not letting that studnet leave class is going to make that student learn more than if the studnet is allowed to leave?
What about bladder infections from holding urine too long. What about the students who over time keep holding their urine and get to where their bladders no longer are elastic and now wetting pants is a almost daily thing. Sure this usually doesn't happen right away. But urologist claim that over time it does. Schools shouldn't be teaching bad heath habits to the students.