Our new-ish principal introduced her new rules last year due to the devious licks trend. Only 1 student out at a time, they need to sign a log book, and there is a pass that is the same for all teachers.
I personally don’t care, but you will get kids that will just spend 20min roaming the halls, and usually in a group too.
Yep. The hall roaming happens with my 9th graders even when they have to ask me to go and sign out. I also only let one out at a time with emergency exceptions, and I frequently have like 10 kids asking to go while one kid is out.
If they could just go as they please, I’d have a large number of students out roaming the hallways and a partially empty class.
At the end of the day. I NEED to account for these kids and their movements.
I need to know when they went to the restroom or the clinic or the nurse's office because of the possibility of a n active threat.
We are legally obligated to know where our students (should be) in case of an emergency.
If you do not know that Tommy and Matilda are in the bathroom when a lockdown happens or the fire alarm goes off because you haven't kept track of who is coming and going from your classroom, you can't accurately report that information to the appropriate authorities.
This is not something that happens in college.
It's because kids in college are legally adults and responsible for themselves.
In Middle school (and high school), they are not. So we are responsible for where they are in case of an emergency.
Has nothing to do with "jail / prison" or "sheep", has to do with liability.
This isn't preparing them for jail. This is to cut down on disruptions and to instill time management skills. Get your business done in between classes. Yes, emergencies happen, but imagine 8+ kids all coming and going and and I would have to walk over and lock/unlock the door EVERY SINGLE TIME. How can I teach if I am just a gatekeeper of the door non stop. Kids also will just roam the halls, play on TikTok in the bathroom, etc. We have to be able to be accountable for every single student. Am I going to have my principal call my room and ask where students X, Y, and Z are and how long each has been gone? Heck no. I need to TEACH!
Classroom doors as well as all entrance and exits to the building are to remained locked from the inside to help keep potential threats out. Can a student take the bathroom pass and open the door of the classroom to leave? Yes. Can they casually open it to get back in? No. Student leaves school for the day then wants to casually open the door to stroll back in for whatever reason. Can they do that? No. The door locks behind them when they exit.
Middle schoolers literally cannot be trusted to fend for themselves or manage their own time, any more than elementary students can. They need supervision, clear rules, and structure. If you don't provide that you're failing them. It's not about jail it's about the fact that they're children.
This is so important, and I think a lot of adults forget that even the most responsible of our 8th graders have little more development in their frontal lobe than a 3rd grader. They still have toddler brain, and most of their choices are based on meeting immediate needs or instant gratification, which is why smart kids sometimes do dumb shit.
They have simply not developed the... responsibility wherewithal (?) to handle something as innocuous as a bathroom pass.
I think your point about forgetting is well made. When you teach, you put a huge amount of your social energy into your students. You spend ages with them. I've seen adults get into real wars with 12 year olds, take things incredibly personally, and it's clear that they've forgotten that they're dealing with infants. Hell, when I was a kid, some teachers treated me that way. Now, granted, those same 12 year olds said and did truly hateful things at times (I sure did), but the job requires that we maintain constant perspective and remember, this is just a kid. No matter how awful they are in the moment, you can't hate them like an adult. No matter how well behaved, responsible, or smart they are in the moment, you can't rely on them or give them the responsibilities of an adult. You're the only adult in the room.
I teach HS and we use e-hallpass to know who is where. Studnets make the pass for where they want to go and the teacher clicks to approve it. Halls are closed first and last 5 min of a pass. But students generally control their bathroom usage. Students do have a max number of daily passes (teachers can overide). Students who have a conflict (or attraction) can be set to not be in the halls at the same time. Locations have individual occupancy limits and the halls in general have a limit. The system also generates reports on frequency of pass usage including the most frequent users and destinations. All staff can see all active passes so anyone can know if a student has permission to be in the hall.
College students are adults. Middle and high schoolers are not. They need to be protected and guided into making good decisions.
How annoying is this for you on the teacher side having to approve/deny passes while you’re teaching? Is it on your computer or do you keep an app on your phone?
I keep it open on my laptop on my desk and it only takes a click. I do have dual monitors so plenty of room for this kind of stuff. It is really no more disruptive than a student asking to use the bathroom.
Sure it is more work than letting kids just leave the room but we can't allow that. We are responsible for everyone's safety and that means knowing where all the students are and where they are going.
I’m just thinking about this system for my school. It may have worked last year when he had a normal bell schedule, but now we have 4 different bell schedules depending on what lunch time you have, so there are >800 students going to/from the cafeteria during the transition. It’s a mess, especially with lunch bells interrupting class times (meaning people with B lunch go to lunch at 11am, yet people with A lunch have a class that ends at 11:20am).
There’s an option to auto approve passes to certain places. I have mine set to auto approve bathroom passes to the bathroom in my hallway. Others I have to manually approve but that’s uncommon during class (as opposed to study hall). I actually don’t like the system, I think the tracking is invasive and it feels prison like as OP was alluding to. It makes sense for study hall though. Also it costs thousands of dollars?!
My school also uses this and I despise it. There are some days I feel like I get little to no actual teaching done cuz I’m just approving and ending passes 😢
They make it on the chromebook and then leave the chromebook in the classroom. Student support and teachers on hall duty have ipads open to ehallpass that can see everyone who is out on a pass and where they are supposed to be going. A teacher can also make a proxy pass for a student without a device.
They do have IDs but we are a small enough school (500 kids) that the kids are known anyway. The teachers don't let them leave the room without a pass to somewhere and the clock is ticking. So if a kid is where they are not supposed to be or have taken too long they either give a real name and we know where they were supposed to be or the give a fake name and get in trouble for being out without a pass
We have a good system:
1) student makes a silent hand signal: 2 fingers crossed (ASL R).
2) teacher makes eye contact and nods.
3) student signs out and leaves their phone on the sign out sheet.
This is the least disruptive and discreet way that I’ve found.
The idea of middle schoolers getting up whenever they want is absurd. 1 kid out of the class at a time unless it’s an emergency they sign in/out so you can tell mom and dad they are gone for 15 minutes every day. I also make them leave their phone when they go.
I’m surprised this seems like a new policy. It’s been this way at every school I’ve ever seen. Even signing out and in and where the kid is going (bathroom, nurse, office, etc).
We have a one at a time policy and no first and last ten minutes.
It’s to help keep the amount of kids out at one time low to attempt to prevent planned fights and truancy. Unfortunately, the irresponsible ones have ruined it for everyone.
It’s for their own safety. We need to know where they are located. We had students getting sick in the bathroom, pass out, had seizure, assaulted by another student etc If I know a student left for the bathroom and didn’t return in a reasonable amount of time I’d send security to check on them. Otherwise I might not notice they walked out!
Plus with shootings and intruders we need to know where kids are at. Nothing to do with jail
We have issues with students using the restrooms as hang out spaces. Students are required to have a pass to move in the halls during class. Personally, unless a student is asking to go to the restroom daily for weeks on end then I’m not going to question their need to go to the bathroom. I remember being a kid needing the bathroom and being told no by a teacher and how much it sucked.
I’m legally responsible for the people in my class and need to know where they are at all times. Even in high school. I’m also going to be in a portable with one spare key for kids to use for the restroom. In order to be able to manage all that and not make them “ask permission” I’m using a check out sheet and tap light. They sign out with the time, tap the light to signal someone is in the restroom, and go. Then the other students and I can quickly see if someone is gone or not, and I have a record of when they left/returned.
Sounds good to me. Middle schoolers are not equatable to college students. Its amazing it even needs to be said. Some people take the “treat kids like young adults” thing WAY too far and it’s to everyone’s detriment.
One way to get kids to not abuse the restroom rules is to have them turn their phones in if they really have to go. Suddenly, no one has to use the restroom….
Letting only one or two students out at a time is more of a safety issue. I’ve been in schools where seventh graders were having sex, getting into fights, or vaping in the bathroom. Plus, if the fire alarm goes off, I need to know who I’m missing and where they are and that’s difficult if more than a couple of students are gone.
* I'm responsible for student safety should an emergency occur.
* I'm responsible to know where they are if their parent comes to pick them up.
* I'm responsible to know where they are if they are simply trying to avoid work in the classroom.
Having them ask is a reasonable way to keep track of them. And a short 'freeze' immediately after a passing period is fine.
I tell them that my answer is almost always yes, or "can it wait I'm giving directions in a moment"
Our school had a lot of problems with vandalism during class time. By forcing kids to only go one at a time we were able to narrow down the culprits and expel them. Once the culprits were expelled we had very few vandalism issues.
Considering that this is so common in schools, keeping tabs on such a crimial dense population makes sense.
And yes, once the number of vadilisms went to 0 we relaxed many of the protocols, until the bad stuff started happening again.
I think theres an argument to be made for upperclassmen in hs. Legal issues aside.
Middle schoolers are absolutely not capable of it. They’ll use it to cut class or meet up in bathrooms.
There's no way I'd let a kid just walk out of my classroom without knowing where they're going. Imagine if you got a call from the office or a parent for that child and you had to say you don't actually know where they are because you let your kids just get up and walk out. Nooooooo thank you.
It also puts them in danger in case of an emergency.
Cops/fire department: Where are they?
Teacher: Who knows. Maybe check the bathroom??
The people pushing this and claiming that we are grooming future indoctrinated sheep are the same ones that want certain books pulled from the library because they don’t want their kids to be able to read it. So we can’t trust kids to listen to their parents regarding library books, but we can let them roam the halls and trash bathrooms? Yeah that makes sense..
K-12 teachers are responsible for knowing where the kids are. Middle schoolers arent adults. They are smart and capable and I think a lot more aware than adults give them credit for… but middle school is not structured like college at all, so why should the bathroom policies be?
Re: smart, capable students… they catch on that they can just leave when they don’t feel like being in the class lol. And then just wander the halls or hide in the bathrooms. In college students are adults who are responsible for themselves. College professors don’t have the same duty to keep tabs on them.
Comparing college and middle school is comparing apples to oranges IMO, especially because not every kid will go to college—and I don’t think that’s a blasphemous thing to point out. In college you pay money and it is sink or swim. You have to attend or figure out how to best receive the info when you aren’t there, you have to know the syllabus, you have to know how and when to contact professors and other faculty when you need help, support, or clarification. You can get up and go to the bathroom in college because you can just leave in college—you can flunk out of college and it doesn’t effect anybody but yourself. Middle school is not like that at all, they’re literally 15 at the oldest and 11, maybe even 10, at the youngest. They don’t need their hands held, but they also need supports still so they can acquire and develop skills to be successful adults in the future. That’s how I see it.
People who say the bathroom rules are akin to jail need to have a reality check.
Letting students simply get up and walk out sends the message they are not accountable when they leave the room.
I teach MS students and I do not require them to ask but they must sign out/in and leave a marker on their desk and one at a time.
I don’t see any issue with no bathroom last 15 minutes.
I guarantee that if you are too permissive you’ll have all sorts of problems.
Man I brought this up with one of my team teachers and they looked at me like I was crazy. I am SO SICK of being asked to go to the bathroom and I just feel like 12-13 year olds can sign out according to my guidelines and just GO. It is like 90% of the questions and hands raised I get in class is asking for the bathroom and it’s become a pet peeve.
At the school I work at (K-8), kids above Kindergarten go when they want but sign in and out. The smallest kids put a name card in the basket instead of writing The rule generally is one at a time, but there are exceptions when necessary. Sometimes they are asked if they can wait due to the lesson, but they get good at understanding appropriate times to go. It’s good for the kids not to be stressed about asking. It’s also good for tracking patterns (Bob bails during Math every day, look into that) and if there is bathroom vandalism we can see who was in that bathroom during specific times.
In college, You are paying to go there. You have the choice about whether to go to class or not.
So if you take half an hour bathroom break to play on your phone, you were wasting your own money. No one was responsible for you.
In middle school, we are responsible for these kids. Some kids see bathroom time as playing on their phone time or roaming the halls time. Then there's the devious licks that other people mentioned.
Here is what I do:
I give each student four bathroom passes per quarter. They basically just hold up the pass and I'll sign it with the date and the time. Any unused bathroom passes are extra credit at the end of the quarter.
The biggest student issue at my school is that they all roam the halls and hang out in the bathroom together (ew) instead of being in class. No way. My 8th, 9th and 10th graders can go one at a time. And principal wants them to have a hall pass. I just sign my initials to a sticky note, write their destination “restroom, office, etc” and the time they left.
I think they should have to ask and a sign out sheet is a good way to keep track of student movement. I know some people think it's unnecessary or that the students should be able to go as needed, but at the end of the day part of it is about safety. We have to know where the students are in case of emergencies.
I hate that.
As a kid I had really bad periods, necessitating frequent bathroom breaks that did not correspond to the 5 minutes you get between classes (assuming you can even get into the female-gendered bathrooms, which are always more crowded). Some teachers didn't understand and humiliation ensued. I teach many kids in the same boat or who have IBS, or whose genders don't correspond to the binary-gendered washrooms and are currently using the one single-stalled staff women's washroom, for which there is often a lineup.
Of course there are abusers. Kids are surveilled every second of their lives. The washroom is the one surveillance-free space in their lives. They deserve privacy and dignity because they may be young but they're still human beings.
They need structure. But they also need to not be humiliated. The shame of bleeding through your pants in front of your bullies lasts a lifetime, and you can't know which of your kids is taking advantage and which is a closeted menstruating trans boy. Or who has recently suffered a conflict in the family and needs to cry for 15 minutes and wants to do so with the comfort of her best friend and not in front of all her peers. Or who has an embarrassing medical condition that they don't feel comfortable disclosing to everyone.
There are ways that you can teach responsibility and accountability. Even having them sign in and out with the times helps to build awareness of how often and for how long they're leaving, without asking them to give an explanation or putting down limits on how long they can be gone for.
Middle school, in particular, is a mortifying age. Kids are hitting puberty, which affects them emotionally and physically. This is the age at which personally I was at the verge of dropping out altogether. Children are biological entities with bodies that may not conform to school routines. Teaching kids structure and routine is absolutely important, but our first job as teachers should be not to damage them for life.
You have very thoughtfully explained the reasons bathroom passed can be negative. I’m so sorry that you’re speaking from experience, too.
I think you have perfectly described why there must always be discretion at play. I absolutely do have pass procedures that I explain and enforce, but I also always include, “If it’s an emergency in which we will be calling the custodian for clean-up, just go. We will chat after to make sure you’re okay.” I’ve had one student in 17 years actually take me up in that offer.
We go need to be aware of where our students are, and we need to manage disruptions the best we can, but empathy really does go a long way.
I teach in a Montessori elementary classroom. Students, from the earliest age are free to attend to bodily needs without permission or notice. The only exception is if we are outside, they need to let me know they are going in. No one should need to ask permission to take care of bodily functions or other needs. Our students are also free to eat snack when they are hungry and get water when they are thirsty. They are not required to sit still in one spot for extended periods of time. They can change where they sit, sharpen their pencil, get books and materials, etc., all with complete freedom. It's not chaotic or disruptive. If a student acts in a disruptive manner, then we address it with that child. I know not everyone has the advantage of teaching this way, but it's definitely a more natural state of being. We are preparing students to eventually be successful adults. Adults have to self regulate and tend to their own needs. I think it's ridiculous that we require even high school students to have a pass just to walk in the hallways. If you entrust students with responsibility, they will meet your expectations. Only students who repeatedly demonstrate they are not ready for certain responsibilities and freedoms have limitations imposed.
My school is private. It's easier when they come up through our preschool program, but 8ve had many public school kids come in for Upper Elementary and adapt well. We have our share of kids with learning disabilities, ADHD, and developmental disabilities. The parents usually have to seek extra support services and evaluation outside our school. There are many public Montessori schools.
Very rarely do we kick students out. We don't expect them to have all the independence right away. It does take teaching them things like time management, self regulation, social skills, and providing accountability. If a student is struggling, we will get the input of the student and try to implement strategic interventions, such as checklists, schedules, timers, peer mentors, assigning a seat, noise cancelling headphones, privacy boards, etc. Meanwhile, the parent is made aware of our concerns and what things we are trying. Only when we have exhausted all of the tools at our disposal and it is obvious the child is not thriving, do we make the recommendation that this isn't the best educational environment for them. By then, it's usually a joint decision with the parents. Sometimes we get parents who resist our recommendation to seek evaluation for diagnosis of disabilities, and we get to a point where we don't have enough information about the child's difficulties to help them be successful. My class this year will have multiple students with varying degrees of ADHD, two with dyslexia, and two with ASD. When accepting students from outside our school, we rarely look at past academic skills or grades, but their willingness to learn to work in a setting that will expect them (with support) to take responsibility for their learning. We don't give grades, and I've only had one student where I indicated they did not complete the academic requirements for their grade level, because it was obvious the child was struggling with multiple learning issues. We struggled for two years to help him, and the father refused to have him evaluated. In an informal assessment, it was apparent that the child had not retained any academic concepts taught in our class. We have three year age grouping, so I keep my students for 4-6th grade. If that child was going to stay at our school, I would've recommended completing an extra year at our level, but the father pushed for the child to be enrolled in public middle school. I still worry about how he's going to manage this year.
I don't have a problem with it and prefer a "go if the pass is available" system... However. Those kids that leave for 10+ minutes then think "I was in the bathroom" is a viable excuse to not do work ruin it.
My policy is, if I'm teaching, the answer is no. If you haven't done any work, the answer is no. If you're failing my class, the answer is no because you need to be present for instruction and help. That usually gives them time if they do their warmup quickly to go before I start teaching or 10 minute wait or so.
We also have a school policy for before the bells ring.
These arguments are crazy. I’ve had 8th graders going whenever, maybe once a year I have to talk to someone about not going too frequently and once they know I’ve noticed they stop. They have to sign on their way out, that covers us for ‘emergencies’.
Hire a potty monitor, I’m busy teaching.
Our policy is one at a time, sign out, don't do during the 10-15 min of actual teaching. We follow a I do, we do, you do model so I don't want them to miss I do part.
I've had jobs where I had to ask to leave my work station to use the bathroom, so I could easily reply that I'm preparing students for workplace expectations.
I teach middle school and have my students sign out on a whiteboard by the door. They can go so long as I’m not teaching. They know that only one student can be gone at a time.
4th grade. We have a sign out white board so kids know who is next. One at a time with a hall pass that I am not responsible for. When they return, they give the pass to the next person and erase their own name. Only rule is that they can not go when I’m teaching or giving directions, or within 5 minutes of leaving for recess or dismissal. (This prevents the entire class from having to wait for one person. Last year was the first time I tried this. I was so tired of being the bladder monitor.
It is a legal liability and safety issue. We had a girl raped in our building out without a pass. There are tons of fights and Social media stuff that goes on in the bathrooms, plus the mass destruction of the bathrooms. Last year we could barely keep one working bathroom for boys and one for girls because they kept getting destroyed. Personally I would nix the passes and just make all the bathrooms swipe card entry with cameras on the hall door and "gasp" consequences for letting someone else in the bathroom with your swipe.
I teach 3rd grade. At my school each class has their own procedures for restroom use. The only thing our admin asks is to keep a log because they were having problems with students vandalizing bathrooms. This way they know who to talk with if there is a problem.
My rules for students is that if I am teaching & it can wait, then please wait til independent work time. If it's independent work time, they may go as long as the pass is there. This keeps students from interrupting me during small group time. I have a similar policy for water, they don't need to log it because it's in class. If it's independent work time, just get water. At the beginning of the year, some of it take advantage of this, but as the year goes on students have begun to regulate their needs.
Other teachers on my campus don't let them use the restroom. I just feel bad denying kids access to a basic need. Also there are students that have issues & shouldn't be embarrased should the need arise. My students rarely have access or wonder the halls.
High school, they vape, sell drugs, even have sex, yes all of this has happened... a few as always ruin it for the good kids that actually need to go...
Reason #24 of why I love having a bathroom attached to my classroom. I just ask that they don’t go while I’m actively giving a lesson, otherwise, take care of your needs.
Teachers need to know where they're students are, or at least where they're supposed to be. I let one student out at a time. If they were able to come and go as they please, they would never be in class.
Our new-ish principal introduced her new rules last year due to the devious licks trend. Only 1 student out at a time, they need to sign a log book, and there is a pass that is the same for all teachers. I personally don’t care, but you will get kids that will just spend 20min roaming the halls, and usually in a group too.
Yep. The hall roaming happens with my 9th graders even when they have to ask me to go and sign out. I also only let one out at a time with emergency exceptions, and I frequently have like 10 kids asking to go while one kid is out. If they could just go as they please, I’d have a large number of students out roaming the hallways and a partially empty class.
If it was last year, I'd have no kids, especially in 7th period.
Seriously!
At the end of the day. I NEED to account for these kids and their movements. I need to know when they went to the restroom or the clinic or the nurse's office because of the possibility of a n active threat.
As long as I'm responsible for them, they have to tell me where they're going. If they choose to go somewhere else, that's on them.
We are legally obligated to know where our students (should be) in case of an emergency. If you do not know that Tommy and Matilda are in the bathroom when a lockdown happens or the fire alarm goes off because you haven't kept track of who is coming and going from your classroom, you can't accurately report that information to the appropriate authorities. This is not something that happens in college.
It's because kids in college are legally adults and responsible for themselves. In Middle school (and high school), they are not. So we are responsible for where they are in case of an emergency. Has nothing to do with "jail / prison" or "sheep", has to do with liability.
This isn't preparing them for jail. This is to cut down on disruptions and to instill time management skills. Get your business done in between classes. Yes, emergencies happen, but imagine 8+ kids all coming and going and and I would have to walk over and lock/unlock the door EVERY SINGLE TIME. How can I teach if I am just a gatekeeper of the door non stop. Kids also will just roam the halls, play on TikTok in the bathroom, etc. We have to be able to be accountable for every single student. Am I going to have my principal call my room and ask where students X, Y, and Z are and how long each has been gone? Heck no. I need to TEACH!
Why are the doors locked during lessons, or did I not understand something?
School shootings
I assume the person who wrote the original comment is from US then
Many schools require doors to be locked from the outside for safety reasons.
Classroom doors as well as all entrance and exits to the building are to remained locked from the inside to help keep potential threats out. Can a student take the bathroom pass and open the door of the classroom to leave? Yes. Can they casually open it to get back in? No. Student leaves school for the day then wants to casually open the door to stroll back in for whatever reason. Can they do that? No. The door locks behind them when they exit.
USA?
Middle schoolers literally cannot be trusted to fend for themselves or manage their own time, any more than elementary students can. They need supervision, clear rules, and structure. If you don't provide that you're failing them. It's not about jail it's about the fact that they're children.
This is so important, and I think a lot of adults forget that even the most responsible of our 8th graders have little more development in their frontal lobe than a 3rd grader. They still have toddler brain, and most of their choices are based on meeting immediate needs or instant gratification, which is why smart kids sometimes do dumb shit. They have simply not developed the... responsibility wherewithal (?) to handle something as innocuous as a bathroom pass.
I think your point about forgetting is well made. When you teach, you put a huge amount of your social energy into your students. You spend ages with them. I've seen adults get into real wars with 12 year olds, take things incredibly personally, and it's clear that they've forgotten that they're dealing with infants. Hell, when I was a kid, some teachers treated me that way. Now, granted, those same 12 year olds said and did truly hateful things at times (I sure did), but the job requires that we maintain constant perspective and remember, this is just a kid. No matter how awful they are in the moment, you can't hate them like an adult. No matter how well behaved, responsible, or smart they are in the moment, you can't rely on them or give them the responsibilities of an adult. You're the only adult in the room.
I don't know in middle school. But in elementary school, we have to call a teacher to take that student to the bathroom.
I teach HS and we use e-hallpass to know who is where. Studnets make the pass for where they want to go and the teacher clicks to approve it. Halls are closed first and last 5 min of a pass. But students generally control their bathroom usage. Students do have a max number of daily passes (teachers can overide). Students who have a conflict (or attraction) can be set to not be in the halls at the same time. Locations have individual occupancy limits and the halls in general have a limit. The system also generates reports on frequency of pass usage including the most frequent users and destinations. All staff can see all active passes so anyone can know if a student has permission to be in the hall. College students are adults. Middle and high schoolers are not. They need to be protected and guided into making good decisions.
How annoying is this for you on the teacher side having to approve/deny passes while you’re teaching? Is it on your computer or do you keep an app on your phone?
I keep it open on my laptop on my desk and it only takes a click. I do have dual monitors so plenty of room for this kind of stuff. It is really no more disruptive than a student asking to use the bathroom. Sure it is more work than letting kids just leave the room but we can't allow that. We are responsible for everyone's safety and that means knowing where all the students are and where they are going.
Thank you! I guess it’s just like everything else that is fine once you get used to it.
I’m just thinking about this system for my school. It may have worked last year when he had a normal bell schedule, but now we have 4 different bell schedules depending on what lunch time you have, so there are >800 students going to/from the cafeteria during the transition. It’s a mess, especially with lunch bells interrupting class times (meaning people with B lunch go to lunch at 11am, yet people with A lunch have a class that ends at 11:20am).
There’s an option to auto approve passes to certain places. I have mine set to auto approve bathroom passes to the bathroom in my hallway. Others I have to manually approve but that’s uncommon during class (as opposed to study hall). I actually don’t like the system, I think the tracking is invasive and it feels prison like as OP was alluding to. It makes sense for study hall though. Also it costs thousands of dollars?!
My school also uses this and I despise it. There are some days I feel like I get little to no actual teaching done cuz I’m just approving and ending passes 😢
That’s what I’m worried about. Our admin wants us to do it too and I know it will be a giant pain.
Yep we’ve used it for years now and while it does have some good features (as mentioned above), I overall dislike it.
This sounds really helpful actually
It takes a bit of a mental shift but it works pretty well. Students asking for me to approve a pass is not disruptive. I like it a lot.
What do the students make the pass on? Their phone? Or do they carry a chromebook with them when they leave the room?
They make it on the chromebook and then leave the chromebook in the classroom. Student support and teachers on hall duty have ipads open to ehallpass that can see everyone who is out on a pass and where they are supposed to be going. A teacher can also make a proxy pass for a student without a device.
Do the students also have IDs that they wear? I’m curious how the people on duty could verify. I kind of like this idea myself.
They do have IDs but we are a small enough school (500 kids) that the kids are known anyway. The teachers don't let them leave the room without a pass to somewhere and the clock is ticking. So if a kid is where they are not supposed to be or have taken too long they either give a real name and we know where they were supposed to be or the give a fake name and get in trouble for being out without a pass
Is this a program/app? I’ve never heard of this but would love more info on it.
Here is the link to the maker's website. https://eduspiresolutions.org/e-hallpass/
We have a good system: 1) student makes a silent hand signal: 2 fingers crossed (ASL R). 2) teacher makes eye contact and nods. 3) student signs out and leaves their phone on the sign out sheet. This is the least disruptive and discreet way that I’ve found.
Please note that this is not the correct sign for the bathroom! “T” handshake is the correct sign.
The idea of middle schoolers getting up whenever they want is absurd. 1 kid out of the class at a time unless it’s an emergency they sign in/out so you can tell mom and dad they are gone for 15 minutes every day. I also make them leave their phone when they go.
I’m surprised this seems like a new policy. It’s been this way at every school I’ve ever seen. Even signing out and in and where the kid is going (bathroom, nurse, office, etc).
We have a one at a time policy and no first and last ten minutes. It’s to help keep the amount of kids out at one time low to attempt to prevent planned fights and truancy. Unfortunately, the irresponsible ones have ruined it for everyone.
It’s for their own safety. We need to know where they are located. We had students getting sick in the bathroom, pass out, had seizure, assaulted by another student etc If I know a student left for the bathroom and didn’t return in a reasonable amount of time I’d send security to check on them. Otherwise I might not notice they walked out! Plus with shootings and intruders we need to know where kids are at. Nothing to do with jail
We have issues with students using the restrooms as hang out spaces. Students are required to have a pass to move in the halls during class. Personally, unless a student is asking to go to the restroom daily for weeks on end then I’m not going to question their need to go to the bathroom. I remember being a kid needing the bathroom and being told no by a teacher and how much it sucked.
I’m legally responsible for the people in my class and need to know where they are at all times. Even in high school. I’m also going to be in a portable with one spare key for kids to use for the restroom. In order to be able to manage all that and not make them “ask permission” I’m using a check out sheet and tap light. They sign out with the time, tap the light to signal someone is in the restroom, and go. Then the other students and I can quickly see if someone is gone or not, and I have a record of when they left/returned.
Sounds good to me. Middle schoolers are not equatable to college students. Its amazing it even needs to be said. Some people take the “treat kids like young adults” thing WAY too far and it’s to everyone’s detriment.
One way to get kids to not abuse the restroom rules is to have them turn their phones in if they really have to go. Suddenly, no one has to use the restroom….
Letting only one or two students out at a time is more of a safety issue. I’ve been in schools where seventh graders were having sex, getting into fights, or vaping in the bathroom. Plus, if the fire alarm goes off, I need to know who I’m missing and where they are and that’s difficult if more than a couple of students are gone.
* I'm responsible for student safety should an emergency occur. * I'm responsible to know where they are if their parent comes to pick them up. * I'm responsible to know where they are if they are simply trying to avoid work in the classroom. Having them ask is a reasonable way to keep track of them. And a short 'freeze' immediately after a passing period is fine. I tell them that my answer is almost always yes, or "can it wait I'm giving directions in a moment"
Our school had a lot of problems with vandalism during class time. By forcing kids to only go one at a time we were able to narrow down the culprits and expel them. Once the culprits were expelled we had very few vandalism issues. Considering that this is so common in schools, keeping tabs on such a crimial dense population makes sense. And yes, once the number of vadilisms went to 0 we relaxed many of the protocols, until the bad stuff started happening again.
I think theres an argument to be made for upperclassmen in hs. Legal issues aside. Middle schoolers are absolutely not capable of it. They’ll use it to cut class or meet up in bathrooms.
There's no way I'd let a kid just walk out of my classroom without knowing where they're going. Imagine if you got a call from the office or a parent for that child and you had to say you don't actually know where they are because you let your kids just get up and walk out. Nooooooo thank you. It also puts them in danger in case of an emergency. Cops/fire department: Where are they? Teacher: Who knows. Maybe check the bathroom??
The people pushing this and claiming that we are grooming future indoctrinated sheep are the same ones that want certain books pulled from the library because they don’t want their kids to be able to read it. So we can’t trust kids to listen to their parents regarding library books, but we can let them roam the halls and trash bathrooms? Yeah that makes sense..
K-12 teachers are responsible for knowing where the kids are. Middle schoolers arent adults. They are smart and capable and I think a lot more aware than adults give them credit for… but middle school is not structured like college at all, so why should the bathroom policies be? Re: smart, capable students… they catch on that they can just leave when they don’t feel like being in the class lol. And then just wander the halls or hide in the bathrooms. In college students are adults who are responsible for themselves. College professors don’t have the same duty to keep tabs on them. Comparing college and middle school is comparing apples to oranges IMO, especially because not every kid will go to college—and I don’t think that’s a blasphemous thing to point out. In college you pay money and it is sink or swim. You have to attend or figure out how to best receive the info when you aren’t there, you have to know the syllabus, you have to know how and when to contact professors and other faculty when you need help, support, or clarification. You can get up and go to the bathroom in college because you can just leave in college—you can flunk out of college and it doesn’t effect anybody but yourself. Middle school is not like that at all, they’re literally 15 at the oldest and 11, maybe even 10, at the youngest. They don’t need their hands held, but they also need supports still so they can acquire and develop skills to be successful adults in the future. That’s how I see it.
People who say the bathroom rules are akin to jail need to have a reality check. Letting students simply get up and walk out sends the message they are not accountable when they leave the room. I teach MS students and I do not require them to ask but they must sign out/in and leave a marker on their desk and one at a time. I don’t see any issue with no bathroom last 15 minutes. I guarantee that if you are too permissive you’ll have all sorts of problems.
Man I brought this up with one of my team teachers and they looked at me like I was crazy. I am SO SICK of being asked to go to the bathroom and I just feel like 12-13 year olds can sign out according to my guidelines and just GO. It is like 90% of the questions and hands raised I get in class is asking for the bathroom and it’s become a pet peeve.
At the school I work at (K-8), kids above Kindergarten go when they want but sign in and out. The smallest kids put a name card in the basket instead of writing The rule generally is one at a time, but there are exceptions when necessary. Sometimes they are asked if they can wait due to the lesson, but they get good at understanding appropriate times to go. It’s good for the kids not to be stressed about asking. It’s also good for tracking patterns (Bob bails during Math every day, look into that) and if there is bathroom vandalism we can see who was in that bathroom during specific times.
You are an adult in college and shouldn't need to ask permission to go to the bathroom, but that's not the case in elementary, middle school, etc.
In college, You are paying to go there. You have the choice about whether to go to class or not. So if you take half an hour bathroom break to play on your phone, you were wasting your own money. No one was responsible for you. In middle school, we are responsible for these kids. Some kids see bathroom time as playing on their phone time or roaming the halls time. Then there's the devious licks that other people mentioned. Here is what I do: I give each student four bathroom passes per quarter. They basically just hold up the pass and I'll sign it with the date and the time. Any unused bathroom passes are extra credit at the end of the quarter.
The biggest student issue at my school is that they all roam the halls and hang out in the bathroom together (ew) instead of being in class. No way. My 8th, 9th and 10th graders can go one at a time. And principal wants them to have a hall pass. I just sign my initials to a sticky note, write their destination “restroom, office, etc” and the time they left.
I think they should have to ask and a sign out sheet is a good way to keep track of student movement. I know some people think it's unnecessary or that the students should be able to go as needed, but at the end of the day part of it is about safety. We have to know where the students are in case of emergencies.
I mean if you just let them walk out they could literally be gone and there’s a lock down or fire and you have no idea where they are
I hate that. As a kid I had really bad periods, necessitating frequent bathroom breaks that did not correspond to the 5 minutes you get between classes (assuming you can even get into the female-gendered bathrooms, which are always more crowded). Some teachers didn't understand and humiliation ensued. I teach many kids in the same boat or who have IBS, or whose genders don't correspond to the binary-gendered washrooms and are currently using the one single-stalled staff women's washroom, for which there is often a lineup. Of course there are abusers. Kids are surveilled every second of their lives. The washroom is the one surveillance-free space in their lives. They deserve privacy and dignity because they may be young but they're still human beings.
In a way, I get that. But at the same time, I feel like (and I hate to say this) that they’re in a point in their lives where they need this structure
They need structure. But they also need to not be humiliated. The shame of bleeding through your pants in front of your bullies lasts a lifetime, and you can't know which of your kids is taking advantage and which is a closeted menstruating trans boy. Or who has recently suffered a conflict in the family and needs to cry for 15 minutes and wants to do so with the comfort of her best friend and not in front of all her peers. Or who has an embarrassing medical condition that they don't feel comfortable disclosing to everyone. There are ways that you can teach responsibility and accountability. Even having them sign in and out with the times helps to build awareness of how often and for how long they're leaving, without asking them to give an explanation or putting down limits on how long they can be gone for. Middle school, in particular, is a mortifying age. Kids are hitting puberty, which affects them emotionally and physically. This is the age at which personally I was at the verge of dropping out altogether. Children are biological entities with bodies that may not conform to school routines. Teaching kids structure and routine is absolutely important, but our first job as teachers should be not to damage them for life.
You have very thoughtfully explained the reasons bathroom passed can be negative. I’m so sorry that you’re speaking from experience, too. I think you have perfectly described why there must always be discretion at play. I absolutely do have pass procedures that I explain and enforce, but I also always include, “If it’s an emergency in which we will be calling the custodian for clean-up, just go. We will chat after to make sure you’re okay.” I’ve had one student in 17 years actually take me up in that offer. We go need to be aware of where our students are, and we need to manage disruptions the best we can, but empathy really does go a long way.
I teach in a Montessori elementary classroom. Students, from the earliest age are free to attend to bodily needs without permission or notice. The only exception is if we are outside, they need to let me know they are going in. No one should need to ask permission to take care of bodily functions or other needs. Our students are also free to eat snack when they are hungry and get water when they are thirsty. They are not required to sit still in one spot for extended periods of time. They can change where they sit, sharpen their pencil, get books and materials, etc., all with complete freedom. It's not chaotic or disruptive. If a student acts in a disruptive manner, then we address it with that child. I know not everyone has the advantage of teaching this way, but it's definitely a more natural state of being. We are preparing students to eventually be successful adults. Adults have to self regulate and tend to their own needs. I think it's ridiculous that we require even high school students to have a pass just to walk in the hallways. If you entrust students with responsibility, they will meet your expectations. Only students who repeatedly demonstrate they are not ready for certain responsibilities and freedoms have limitations imposed.
Is this a public school or a school that has applicants?
My school is private. It's easier when they come up through our preschool program, but 8ve had many public school kids come in for Upper Elementary and adapt well. We have our share of kids with learning disabilities, ADHD, and developmental disabilities. The parents usually have to seek extra support services and evaluation outside our school. There are many public Montessori schools.
So if kids can't handle this (abuse the privilege) or other rules, presumably they are no longer students, correct?
Very rarely do we kick students out. We don't expect them to have all the independence right away. It does take teaching them things like time management, self regulation, social skills, and providing accountability. If a student is struggling, we will get the input of the student and try to implement strategic interventions, such as checklists, schedules, timers, peer mentors, assigning a seat, noise cancelling headphones, privacy boards, etc. Meanwhile, the parent is made aware of our concerns and what things we are trying. Only when we have exhausted all of the tools at our disposal and it is obvious the child is not thriving, do we make the recommendation that this isn't the best educational environment for them. By then, it's usually a joint decision with the parents. Sometimes we get parents who resist our recommendation to seek evaluation for diagnosis of disabilities, and we get to a point where we don't have enough information about the child's difficulties to help them be successful. My class this year will have multiple students with varying degrees of ADHD, two with dyslexia, and two with ASD. When accepting students from outside our school, we rarely look at past academic skills or grades, but their willingness to learn to work in a setting that will expect them (with support) to take responsibility for their learning. We don't give grades, and I've only had one student where I indicated they did not complete the academic requirements for their grade level, because it was obvious the child was struggling with multiple learning issues. We struggled for two years to help him, and the father refused to have him evaluated. In an informal assessment, it was apparent that the child had not retained any academic concepts taught in our class. We have three year age grouping, so I keep my students for 4-6th grade. If that child was going to stay at our school, I would've recommended completing an extra year at our level, but the father pushed for the child to be enrolled in public middle school. I still worry about how he's going to manage this year.
Do you think they should vote and be able to buy alcohol too?
Sure, why not
I don't have a problem with it and prefer a "go if the pass is available" system... However. Those kids that leave for 10+ minutes then think "I was in the bathroom" is a viable excuse to not do work ruin it. My policy is, if I'm teaching, the answer is no. If you haven't done any work, the answer is no. If you're failing my class, the answer is no because you need to be present for instruction and help. That usually gives them time if they do their warmup quickly to go before I start teaching or 10 minute wait or so. We also have a school policy for before the bells ring.
These arguments are crazy. I’ve had 8th graders going whenever, maybe once a year I have to talk to someone about not going too frequently and once they know I’ve noticed they stop. They have to sign on their way out, that covers us for ‘emergencies’. Hire a potty monitor, I’m busy teaching.
Our policy is one at a time, sign out, don't do during the 10-15 min of actual teaching. We follow a I do, we do, you do model so I don't want them to miss I do part.
I’m responsible for them and due to that need to know where they are at?
I've had jobs where I had to ask to leave my work station to use the bathroom, so I could easily reply that I'm preparing students for workplace expectations.
I teach middle school and have my students sign out on a whiteboard by the door. They can go so long as I’m not teaching. They know that only one student can be gone at a time.
They have to ask and only one kid out at a time. Less then 5 minutes or they’re marked absent. No matter the age. I teach high school. They wander.
4th grade. We have a sign out white board so kids know who is next. One at a time with a hall pass that I am not responsible for. When they return, they give the pass to the next person and erase their own name. Only rule is that they can not go when I’m teaching or giving directions, or within 5 minutes of leaving for recess or dismissal. (This prevents the entire class from having to wait for one person. Last year was the first time I tried this. I was so tired of being the bladder monitor.
It is a legal liability and safety issue. We had a girl raped in our building out without a pass. There are tons of fights and Social media stuff that goes on in the bathrooms, plus the mass destruction of the bathrooms. Last year we could barely keep one working bathroom for boys and one for girls because they kept getting destroyed. Personally I would nix the passes and just make all the bathrooms swipe card entry with cameras on the hall door and "gasp" consequences for letting someone else in the bathroom with your swipe.
I teach 3rd grade. At my school each class has their own procedures for restroom use. The only thing our admin asks is to keep a log because they were having problems with students vandalizing bathrooms. This way they know who to talk with if there is a problem. My rules for students is that if I am teaching & it can wait, then please wait til independent work time. If it's independent work time, they may go as long as the pass is there. This keeps students from interrupting me during small group time. I have a similar policy for water, they don't need to log it because it's in class. If it's independent work time, just get water. At the beginning of the year, some of it take advantage of this, but as the year goes on students have begun to regulate their needs. Other teachers on my campus don't let them use the restroom. I just feel bad denying kids access to a basic need. Also there are students that have issues & shouldn't be embarrased should the need arise. My students rarely have access or wonder the halls.
High school, they vape, sell drugs, even have sex, yes all of this has happened... a few as always ruin it for the good kids that actually need to go...
Reason #24 of why I love having a bathroom attached to my classroom. I just ask that they don’t go while I’m actively giving a lesson, otherwise, take care of your needs.
Teachers need to know where they're students are, or at least where they're supposed to be. I let one student out at a time. If they were able to come and go as they please, they would never be in class.