Hello students! Today we will not be covering anything college related, but we will be covering the new 5 Star bathroom policy. Now, some of you may not have heard of it yet, as only 15 teachers have started it. But it is something you definitely want to be aware of, because next semester, most teachers will be enforcing this policy.
Some key factors involved are, a new computer you must log in and out of each time you leave class, you must write why you are leaving, and you have up to 7 minutes to use the bathroom. Only 1 student in each class within the entire campus is allowed out at once. If the limit is at max, you must wait until a spot is available.
As a student in high school specifically, I believe that this policy is outright wrong and not effective. Specifically as a female, there will be times where we will need more than 7 minutes. Even males too, sometimes the bathroom takes longer than 7 minutes. It is not something we can control and teachers tend to forget this. Besides, half the time our bathrooms are closed, so we have to search for an open one which, thus, wastes our 7 minutes. Several students can argue with this and agree that this is not a policy we should enforce.
Carmen Lohora-Young says “It’s an inappropriate amount of time to expect everyone to get their issues done, what if you’re having a bad stomach day or period problems? It takes a minute to get it all figured out. And I feel that that time frame is unrealistic.”
Another reason this policy is being enforced is because our head staff wants to prevent drug abuse, friends meeting up, etc. Now, I understand why the school board or site administration may want to push this policy as a start.
As someone who has seen what really goes on in the bathroom, I get it. But, I really do not think that the policy will stop those from doing what they do in the bathroom. It will just punish us innocent kids who just need to go to the bathroom. In the 5 Star system, the staff would make a list of people who they think would meet up with one another, and if one person from the group is out, the computer won’t let the others go out til they return. What happens if their ‘list’ is wrong and they are being stopped from using the bathroom for no reason?
Senior Lilli Kaehler says “If they’re so concerned about people going to the bathroom and not doing what they’re supposed to do, why not just punish them outright instead? The system punishing everyone as a whole, to me, feels redundant.”
Also, if one person is out within each class, although that’s about 90 people, what if I really need to go? And what if those students take longer than the 7 minutes and I’m just stuck waiting? I don’t believe this is fair at all considering like I said above, we cannot control our bladder. We should not be timed nor wait for others just to go.
I can most definitely say, if the teachers had this policy, they would not like this for themselves. No one wants to be timed, and I feel as thought we should be trusted enough to not take advantage of the bathroom. If anything, like said above, punish the kids who take long amounts of time. Maybe the admin can, or the teacher of the class. But the whole school shouldn’t be punished.
And, as of today, one piloting teacher has decided to not continue this policy, because the computers keep malfunctioning after someone signs out. Apparently, the screen goes black if the 7 minutes is exceeded and takes several minutes to turn back on, due to buffering. Is this the students fault? No. 7 minutes is not enough time to use the bathroom. You shouldn’t punish someone for having to go to the restroom longer than expected.
However, CMMS history teacher Mr.Taylor, says, “I understand why students would not like the policy, however I believe we should test it and see how it goes, but for now it sounds somewhat effective.”
CMHS and CMMS, what do you think? Is this policy fair? Or should we continue our normal bathroom usage and those who deserved to be punished get punished?
