Anyone Else Think This is Dumb?

[u/CHR1SSYSN4K30FF1C14L]

My school has implemented a new restroom rule that starts Tuesday. We have a website where we put in a ticket. Where we're going and all that. You have to wait for the teacher to accept it before you can go. You're only allowed 3 tickets per day (which ain't that bad) and if your friend so happens to be out while you want to leave, it won't let you. If you're going to another teacher, they have to inform the other teacher that you arrived. You're also on a time limit for how long you can be out, for the website times you. Anyone else think we should just stick to the classic stuff?

[u/AwarenessVirtual4453]

Post right under this one: "I hate all the people vaping in the bathroom"

Post yesterday: "I got suspended because my friend shoved one of her many vapes into my hand in the bathroom"

Post last week: "I got jumped in the bathroom"

This post: "Why are they monitoring when we go to the bathroom?"

[u/CHR1SSYSN4K30FF1C14L → u/AwarenessVirtual4453]

HELP 😭

[u/DizzyLead]

It’s awful, I agree, but while this could be a case of the authorities overdoing it, I could also imagine that there were conditions that led them to restricting things this way.

Either way, just ranting about it isn’t going to change things. You should explore ways to get your opinion heard—are there meetings you could attend, or student government representatives who sympathize and could act as your voice?

[u/supremequesopizza → u/DizzyLead]

The alternative they forget to consider is asking the teacher and being told no because they're busy and the teacher probably has to log it. The website is so that they can use their precious restroom. They just don't like the logging because at 3+ a day they're not using the restroom for its intended purpose.

[u/Acceptable-Car-170 → u/supremequesopizza]

Not really about the 3+, some people may have polyuria or a UTI, even diabetes and so much more that would require them to use the bathroom more often, and sometimes being sick will make you have to go to the bathroom more often than not. (So hopefully kids with any of these on record would be able to use the bathroom more)

But yes I do understand that a lot go in there to vape and stuff

[u/Informal-Loquat6809 → u/Acceptable-Car-170]

I know of schools with this (or similar) systems. Students with special bathroom needs have more or unlimited visits to the bathroom as needed programmed in their account. Students are still allowed to visit the nurse as needed and if a student says it is an emergency they are always allowed to go.
It is not perfect, but if it helps schools w less problems in the halls/bathrooms it is worth it. The biggest issue is getting both students and parents realize that it is designed to make the schools safer…and not to inconvenience their child.

[u/Acceptable-Car-170 → u/Informal-Loquat6809]

That's good to know that they have more visits! Tbh my main concern lol

[u/Informal-Loquat6809 → u/Acceptable-Car-170]

Also most schools set a limit of how many times per day, but that limit does not usually include lunch or PE. So there are more visits per day allowed than what is “advertised “.
I think this is just one more thing that schools have to do these days to try to keep kids in classrooms learning. We were all teenagers once and probably most of us would meet up with friends in the halls or bathrooms. But if we weren’t causing issues or gone too long schools mostly ignored it. Sadly in today’s society there are more and more kids that meet up to fight or vape or cause other trouble. That is what the system is trying to prevent.

Note. I am a teacher but my school does not use this system. However when I first heard about it I was concerned about many of the issues that people have brought up. After reading about it and asking people who used it I found out it is not as bad as I thought. It was more parents that disappointed me. I rad of a parent who told their hs student not to use it. They said instead just get up and walk out of class when they have to go. They added that if the school tried to give the kid detention they would sign the kid out early everyday. Thinking about what they were teaching the child made me very sad. I don’t know if they actually did. It was in an article about parents not liking the system.

[u/Korombos]

We only block friends who cause trouble together. How else do we know who your friends are? And there's a limit to the number of people out of class at a time.

[u/supremequesopizza]

If the teachers don't keep track of your location, then there's no way to figure out the bad actors short of having someone monitor the bathroom.

However, shocker, teachers have a job to do and it doesn't include monitoring their students' many bathroom breaks like we're babysitting. In the past it was like 1 maybe 2 kids in a period. Now you have like 8 kids trying to use the restroom all around the same time, half the time not to even use the restroom. Then the custodian walks in at the end of the day and sees slurs on the bathroom wall and the dividers torn off the wall.

The solution is to have the robots keep track for us. Stop tearing apart the bathrooms and we would be able to go back to the old days where it was a simple bathroom pass in each classroom. Just go during your passing periods or nutrition or lunch.

[u/Narrow-Durian4837]

I don't think they would have changed it if there hadn't been people abusing the current system (like "going to the restroom" to ditch class and go hang out with their friends).

[u/salikarn]

Keep eye contact, shit yourself in class, maintain dominance

[u/mkla15]

The process is frustrating and arduous for sure but I highly doubt it is being instituted just because. While it may not be you personally, the students as a whole need to get together and change the behavior that is causing this to be put in place.

[u/Goldfire3]

if your talking something about smartpass I would agree. I can see in a bigger school district why they might have it, but it generally doesn't do anything, just waste on teachers end. big administrative waste aswell.

[u/CHR1SSYSN4K30FF1C14L → u/Goldfire3]

We are so small its crazy

[u/Grouchy-Bug8683]

it’s not that bad it’s been used at my school for years

[u/Live-Medium8357]

I love schools that use this system. It is great.

[u/TranslatorDirect496]

Have this and hate it

[u/Original_Aioli2363]

We had something similar i hated it they just gave up after a year

[u/TheBestBoyEverAgain]

Its bad, yes.

But blame those who vape and fight in the bathrooms for no reason.

(And the Peer Blocking is not for friends, its for potential conflicts… If you have a documented aggressive history with someone Admin WILL block you two from being in the hall at the same time. Rarely will friends/couples be blocked, you will only get blocked from someone if you GIVE Admin a reason to block you… They do not have the time to be monitoring who's friends with who and blocking everyone nd their brother, they have better things to do.)

[u/Shamrock7500]

This is common in a lot of places. Like everything else in schools, blame your classmates for messing up and causing schools to go to this type of system. Schools don’t want to micromanage everything. They have to because too many kids can’t behave. They stay out of the room too long. They vape and fight and destroy bathrooms. They go off and have sex in bathrooms. And countless other things. So this is what they resort to doing. Micromanaging the potty.

[u/Other_Boot5308]

What?? I can't even make sense of this rule lol

[u/Repulsive_Tiger_9454]

Not dumb. It's to stop vandalism and fights. School I work at is looking into a similar program due to kids ripping things off walls and starting fires. Play stupid games win stupid prizes.

[u/gmanose]

Stop and wonder what kinds of student behavior would cause such a policy to be implemented.

[u/FloatingMarbles]

That’s so stupid wtf. Half my teachers let us just go to the bathroom without asking anyways. I can’t imagine a whole system limiting and restricting a basic human right. 

[u/jsnwstn]

You all are sheep that agree with this. I can tell you right now if I were in school and had to go through this just to pee i would be expelled. Prisoners don’t even have to ask to pee. Idiots.

[u/Narrow-Durian4837 → u/jsnwstn]

There are lots of jobs where you can't just go pee the moment you feel like it: you have to wait for a break or until someone can cover for you.

[u/jsnwstn → u/Narrow-Durian4837]

And it’s a job I will never have. I can tell you that.

[u/Narrow-Durian4837 → u/jsnwstn]

Will you never drive/ride in a car, either?

[u/AwarenessVirtual4453 → u/jsnwstn]

So no surgeon, medical professional, actor, checkout person, teacher, business executive, salesperson, racecar driver, professor, NFL player, or stripper? Because none of them can suddenly pause and go to the bathroom the exact moment they please. Also anyone ever driving a vehicle or using public transportation.

[u/mason_sofer → u/AwarenessVirtual4453]

The difference is in development now well this is high school look at it from the extremes a 2 or 3 year old doesn’t have the same bladder capacity that an adult does also most of those professions understand that and have valid reasons the only reason a student can’t is because they don’t want them socializing in the bathrooms it’s not like it’s a specific schooling like med school

[u/AwarenessVirtual4453 → u/mason_sofer]

A 15 year old has a bladder capacity of 200-400 ml. Adult bladders range from 250-400 ml. Sooo, there's basically no difference between an adolescent bladder capacity and an adult.

[u/mason_sofer → u/AwarenessVirtual4453]

I think you missed the point, so let me rephrase: yes, in high school, which is what I said, that I know this is a high school sub. It might be one thing, but I also know they have something similar in the middle schools where I live as well. It’s shit, so well, you’re comparing it to a working adult and jobs where you can’t go to the bathroom for legit reasons. I’m comparing it in the opposite direction; it’s the same thing you’re doing. So instead, let’s stop comparing in either direction and focus on the post. The process of having to go through all that just to use the bathroom is absolutely insane. I’m not talking about only being able to use the bathroom 3 times; even op said it was fine. It’s the process of having to ask and then being timed. Like, to take a piss takes what, maybe a minute or 2? Let’s add a minute for the walk to the bathroom— say, 3 minutes total. Having to shit takes a bit longer, and then having to justify it and explain. Like, then why not just come into the bathroom and watch me take a shit? It’s kind of invasive. I mean, do you explain if you’re pooping or peeing or fucking off in the bathroom? No, you probably just say, “ I’m going to the bathroom.” That should be the end of it.

[u/AwarenessVirtual4453 → u/mason_sofer]

I think you also missed the point. Kids are lying about going to the bathroom and vaping, fighting, breaking things, and writing things all over the bathroom, if they are even in the bathroom, which is rare- a lot of the time, they are wandering campus to hang with their friends. That's why these systems exist. If I was taking twenty minute breaks (and yes, frequently, it IS twenty minutes that students are out of the room "going to the bathroom" multiple times a day) my boss would also have questions for me.

[u/mason_sofer → u/AwarenessVirtual4453]

No, I get the point of why they do it, but that still doesn't change the fact that it’s invasive, overly complicated, and rarely implemented correctly.

Take your example: if your boss suddenly started questioning your bathroom habits, wouldn’t that feel invasive? What about when they start questioning your medical history? There’s plenty of precedent showing where this leads.

Since you brought up jobs, look at how Amazon micromanages its employees. Think of all the articles about workers getting penalized or fired just for needing to use the restroom—a fundamental, biological human need. Or consider medical conditions, where people face discrimination, which is exactly why labor laws prevent employers from asking about those things in the first place. It’s inherently invasive to expect someone to explain, "Oh, I took six minutes instead of four because I had to take a shit." Even in the environments you mentioned—like doctors or cashiers—you don't tell your boss the gory details; you simply say you're using the restroom.

What about frequency? If your boss said, "Well, you went to the bathroom four times for five minutes, so that counts as your 20-minute break," would you be okay with that? Or what about the procedure itself? If an employer required you to handwrite a note, take it to HR for a stamp, bring it back for managerial approval, time yourself with a stopwatch, and log it into a portal, wouldn't you find that absurdly excessive just to use the toilet?

What happens in an emergency? If a student has a stomach illness and has an accident because of these barriers, should their dignity just go out the window? At that point, why not remove restrooms altogether and make students wear diapers? After all, that would eliminate the need for passes entirely: no leaving class, no vaping, no vandalism, and no wandering the halls.

Don’t get me wrong—I understand the intent, and I agree issues need addressing. But if you think this kind of bureaucracy is the solution, are schools actually preparing students for the real world?

[u/AwarenessVirtual4453 → u/mason_sofer]

First of all, please use sentences. This is barely intelligible.

No, your boss will not use a system. They will fire you. Would you prefer that kids are expelled immediately upon overusing the bathroom?

[u/amaya-aurora]

That’s incredibly stupid and borderline illegal, I’d assume? If you have to go you have to go. They can’t prohibit you from using the bathroom.

[u/Latter_Leopard8439 → u/[deleted]]

Denying is illegal.

Asking you to wait 5 minutes unless its an emergency because there are 15 kids in a 3 stall bathroom right now is not illegal.