St. Charles parents say their students need a (bathroom) break

The middle-school experience is a time of big changes for any student. New teachers. Bigger schools. Changing classes for the first time.

And, at least for some St. Charles students, limited bathroom breaks.

Melissa Omalley Walker said her Wredling Middle School student brought home an unwelcome slip of paper to start the school year. The "passport" limits her son to three bathroom breaks per quarter. A teacher initials the passport each time the student uses it. Losing the passport means losing all bathroom privileges for that quarter.

Walker said the passport is a "ridiculous" limitation that punishes the majority of students for the sake of a few who may abuse the system just to get out of class. Walker's son has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and a slight tic disorder. On an average day, he uses the bathroom two or three times just in the hour it takes him to get ready to go to school.

"I don't think it is right to not allow children to use the bathroom if needed," Walker said. "What if they are having a bad day, or they drank too much? They should be allowed to use the restroom whenever they need."

Walker posted a picture of the bathroom passport on her Facebook page. The page erupted with comments from fellow Wredling parents and thoughts from parents at other district schools, including Haines and St. Charles East High School, who have encountered similar "passports."

Parents with daughters said the idea of such passports is particularly problematic because of female hygiene needs and relatively limited time between classes. Parents said students have four minutes between classes to go to their lockers, switch books, and head to their next class, which can sometimes be at opposite ends of the building at the high school level.

"When nature calls, it calls," said Samantha Tubekis, mother of a student at Haines Middle School. "No air conditioning at Haines, so they want them to drink a lot of water. Well, guess what happens then? I get tired of good kids, who aren't abusing privileges, being penalized because of a few bad kids who take advantage."

District spokesman Jim Blaney said there is no districtwide policy governing bathroom breaks. There are no written policies at the individual schools, either. Instead, some teams of teachers adopted the bathroom passports to enforce the importance of time management.

"This is a situation that is up to the individual teacher," Blaney said. "What they are trying to do is let the kids know you can't just leave the classroom whenever you want. We're trying to get the students to think about how much they really need to leave class and how to start using their time wisely. If you have to use the restroom, you may have to skip socializing with your friends between classes. Part of the transition to middle school and high school is learning that."

Blaney said teachers know, and are expected to know, about any medical conditions or situations individual students may have that would require more frequent trips to the bathroom or other classroom absences.

"This is where the human aspect of teaching comes in," he said. "Keeping students from using the bathroom when they have a legitimate need? We don't do that."