HOUSTON – The Houston Federation of Teachers filed a grievance to Houston Independent School District regarding a bathroom policy at Sharpstown High School.
The policy states that students cannot use the restroom during class.
District officials said it’s up to the principals to set bathroom policies at each school.
KPRC 2′s Re’Chelle Turner sat with Jackie Anderson, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, who broke down the policy.
“I think it’s ridiculous,” Anderson said. “I think it’s a lot of overreach. I don’t know if this particular principal is taking something very literal that he has been told but I think it’s very inhumane to expect students to program their restroom time between classes.”
Anderson added that some restrooms are not accessible to students and there are not enough restrooms to accommodate them.
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“You may go into the restroom during class change, all of the stalls may be taken up and you have to wait. Then you have a problem going to class tardy,” she said.
Reaction from students and parents:
“I think that’s kind of ridiculous. Students should be allowed to go to the restroom whenever they have to. What if it’s an emergency. Doesn’t make sense to me,” parent Jesse Sanchez said.
“He should really not do it because not every kid is bad sometimes, they say we pay for bad kids. It’s not really fair because some girls have emergencies sometimes and we are not allowed to use it. We can only use the bathroom during class changes which is 5 minutes, and the bathrooms are always full,” one student said.
Houston ISD sent the following statement to KPRC 2:
“HISD cannot comment on a pending legal or grievance matter from outside organizations. It is up to principals to set restroom policies at their schools. Campus leaders and other school staff should use good judgment in setting policies and responding to students’ needs.”