Rewarding young students with stickers for a job well done on school assignments is commonplace, but one New York school is doling out those coveted prizes for another type of good performance: holding it in.
Parents of children at Coney Island's PS 90 are up in arms over a new policy that they say will give their kids bladder problems and have children wetting themselves in class. The new rule, put in place last Friday, strictly limits how often 5th graders in teacher Stephanie Warner's class can go to the bathroom, and when they're permitted to go, according to an email obtained by the Brooklyn Daily.
"Only one person at a time, they must have the pass, they have three minutes, they must sign in and out properly, and they must ask me," Warner wrote to school Principal Greta Hawkins in the email acquired by the Brooklyn Daily. "If the procedures are not followed properly, they will receive a note home."
Warner implemented the new policy because she became "exasperated with the constant bathroom needs," and the strict rules were the only solution she could conjure, according to her email.
Students who can control their bladder needs and don't use any of their vouchers during the week can earn prizes like pencils and stickers.
“Eight hours a day for five days, three passes — that doesn’t make any sense,” parent Sandra Leon told the Brooklyn Daily. “[My son] has a bladder problem and is getting surgery for it — and this is exacerbating it.”
The controversy over PS 90's new bathroom policy comes after students at a Manhattan high school rioted new bathroom rules in December. Murry Bergtraum High School students rushed the halls after Principal Andrea Lewis closed school bathrooms to students because of a fight that broke out during class.
Lewis reportedly only permitted bathroom use in the nurse's office, and was accused of threatening that students would be arrested for engaging in fights, CBS 2/1010 WINS reported.
In Texas, McKinney North High School students are outraged that school officials have removed bathroom doors -- to "keep kids safe," though students are convinced the move was made to prevent students from engaging in sexual behavior.
The decision to remove the doors reportedly happened around the same time that school officials spoke to students about inappropriate public displays of affection, but administrators assert that the two incidents are unrelated.