There is an ongoing problem within schools that is widely overlooked; the individual teacher policy on bathroom passes. I believe that if students need to use the restroom they should be able to go without a limited amount of passes.

Some teachers have a strict policy that once your bathroom passes run out, you can no longer leave to use the restroom when needed; that policy should not be enforced in that way. If teachers want to have bathroom passes that makes sense, but there should be a way for the students to go to the bathroom after all of their passes are gone.

Mrs.Lozano has a policy of that manner, that if students do not want to use their bathroom passes which can be turned in at the end of the quarter for extra credit, they are able to use to the restroom without the pass. Instead they have to come into the classroom at the end of the day and serve ten minutes. In order to enforce this, the students who use the restroom are kept track of and if they do not come after school, they are given a detention. This policy allows students to go to the bathroom when they need to and allows the teachers to have bathroom passes for extra credit if they choose to do so.

Some teachers don’t understand. Many point out the obvious, yes, it was just break, but if you’re a girl things come unexpected. Many teachers tend to ignore the problem, sometimes, because they may not care to mold their way of teaching to accommodate the problems that girls may face.

“One time I had to use to restroom so that I could deal with my period. I asked the teacher if I could go, and they told me that I was not able to go because we had just had break. But during break I did not know that I was going to start my period, so I had to sit in class wondering whether or not I bled through my clothes, which was what I was focusing on rather than what the teacher was saying. I then had to ask to use a friends jacket to tie around my waist because by then I had already bled through. In my next period I called my mom asking to go home.” Said by a student at Ripon High that wishes to remain anonymous.

Teachers should not be given the right to tell a student when they can or cannot use the restroom, we are all human beings, sometimes we all need to use the restroom. Just because you are able to teach students does not mean you can defy them a basic human need.

On the other hand, it has become a problem, as students can use going to the restroom as an excuse to get out of class. And though that may be a prevalent issue, the alternative would be unfavorable.