Now, For Your Regularly Scheduled Bathroom Break

As a former teacher in a NYC public elementary school, I agree that this seems like a terrible idea; however, I would like to shed some light on the equally terrible factors motivating such policies (which are quite widespread.)

As has already been reported, many schools do not have adequate bathroom facilities, and they are not maintained as well as they need to be. These facilities and maintenance issues are often too expensive for schools to address. In practice, inadequate bathroom facilities cause overcrowding problems if more than a few children use the bathroom at the same time. Scheduling staggered bathroom breaks has been seen as one way to prevent overcrowding.

Another factor behind bathroom scheduling is the need for hallway supervision. It is unsafe (and against city regulations) for children to be unsupervised en route to and from the bathroom, but many schools do not have room in their budget to pay hallway monitors. It then becomes the classroom teacher's responsibility to supervise the children in the hallways, and this is only feasible by scheduling a time for the entire class to use the bathroom.

With older students a scheduled bathroom break is practical, and many teachers include it in their day to minimize distractions and maximize instructional time during the rest of the day. Children are only sent to the bathroom outside of this time in the case of "bathroom emergencies," which older children do not have very often.

For younger students, obviously, "emergencies" happen more often. Lower elementary classes are meant to have a classroom aide to assist with bathroom supervision; however, if a school cannot hire aides due to budget constraints, I can see how lower elementary classrooms might be forced into the scheduled bathroom break system.

This policy may be "crazy" and "unfair," but the bathroom issue, like so many others in our public schools, is caused by insufficient funding for public instruction. (As in this case, mismanagement can make the problem worse.) Our schools face enormous challenges and do not have adequate resources to address them. When all the constraints are considered, it can be nearly impossible to come up with solutions that are both reasonable and feasible; still, the schools have a duty to try, and they do.

One final note: while the prototypical "school official" may be able to take a bathroom break at his or her whim, I can assure you that teachers are afforded no such luxury. When I was in the classroom, the school day began at 8:15, and my first chance to take a bathroom break was at 12:45, after I took my students to lunch.

Limiting the amount of bathroom breaks for youngsters can be a reasonable idea. What I don't understand is how teachers can't see through the white lies of 3rd graders who simply want to jump on the bathroom trip bandwagon...If I recall, when I was that young it was usually the same damn kids who would ask for the bathroom pass. They would then take the scenic route to the can, and afterwards stand in a stall and waste toilet paper on the ceiling. Some kids need to go more than once, the 1 vist/day doesn't sound too likely to reinforce...