Local News

School Policy Irritates Raleigh Students, Parents

Posted Updated

RALEIGH — A policy in Wake County Schools which offers students extra credit for not leavingthe classroom to use the bathroom hassome students and parents upset.

They think it is sending the wrong message.

At Westlake Middle School, kids get one bathroom pass per quarter. If you use ityou lose out on extra credit.

Teachers would like to see students concentrate on class and use the bathroom in betweenclasses. But some studentsdo not think that four minutes between classes is enough time to do everything they need to do.

"You have to have time to go to your locker, to go to the bathroom, and you don't always have time to do that," sayseighth grader Hayley Teater.

Teater's mother, Robin Boettcher, is one of three parents who have complained.

"You're risking humiliation from accidents by not allowing the kids to go to the rest room without pressure," saysBoettcher.

Pressure is exactly what Kelly Richardson says the policy is putting on students whodesperately need the extra creditfor grade points per class per year for not going to the bathroom.

"I don't think it's fair because we need to go. It's not something we control, and it's not something we do as a leisureactivity," Richardson says.

"I think there could be a better way of handling it so that people don't abuse the right to go to the bathroom," addsTeater.

Assistant Superintendent John Ringo says that teachers have used this policy to keepdown classroom disruptions foryears and there are currently no plans to change it.

Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.