I have no recollection of using school bathrooms as a child. I definitely know I didn't go much in high school due to the 'type' of girls who hung out in the restroom...smoking, acting cool...I was scared of those girls and let's just say the facilities weren't really clean...hmy: So now fast forward...I teach in a hallway with only grade 3 and 4 classrooms. The boys room has developed into a combination circus/locker room/barn stall. Soap suds fill the sinks. Wet paper towels wadded up and thrown around, and bodily fluids (and the other stuff) on the floor, wall, in the sink. Seriously? Who does that? I maintain a sign out sheet, as do my colleagues. My kids have been warned of SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES. I have kids who come back from the boys room and tell me they see the evidence, but they never see the culprits...my principal does checks of the bathroom, checks sign out sheets, trying to find a pattern, a suspect. The next step is assigned bathroom times... So I had another serious talk with my class this morning...I don't think for one minute that any of my boys are involved but it's just so disturbing. We're now operating under 'see some thing, say something'. Gross. What gets in their heads?
I only used the elementary school bathrooms when I absolutely had to go, and never unless the whole class went together because it was in the really scary basement. In grades 7-8, I only went when I absolutely had to go, and that was mostly because I was afraid of what would happen if I was late to class. In high school, the scary smoker girls were in the bathroom, and the bathroom wasn't all that clean. I usually went after school before band practice. Now, the kids LOVE to hang around in the bathroom. The girls gather around and take pictures of themselves in the bathroom mirror. They also keep a running commentary on the back of the bathroom doors. Sometimes they hang out in stalls and test each other. The boys stop up the sinks and urinals, and horseplay. Their new thing is to pee on the toilet paper. Really? I don't get it.
Our school installed cameras outside the bathrooms, so if there's an issue, they can see who went in and out. Since we've had them, we've had no problems. Why doesn't your P buy some fake camera domes and install them in the ceiling outside the bathrooms? They're cheap, and I'll be they'd be effective!
I like that! I had a camera outside my classroom which showed my door and the boys room door. The BS stopped, we did catch one student, he tried to tell his mom the camera was inside the boys room and momma came in all in a huff. I had saved the vid then the boy tried to say I photoshoped it! When I showed it to mom she was speechless she could not believe her son lied!
We have the same situation in my school, czacza. Not continuously, but every year there seem to be a few times when this goes on for a couple of weeks. We are all to have sign out sheets as well (although everyone isn't as diligent with them as they should be). I talk to my kids about respect, play up the "disgusting" factor and am pretty blunt in telling them that the caretakers shouldn't need to be dealing with cleaning up p** from the floors. I just don't get it. (When Alex was in elementary school, he never used the washroom at school. He would, literally, come running down the street after school.)
It sounds to me as though the kids have to be trained to expect someone to stop in every few minutes. Any adult in the building who has a minute should be stopping in, unexpectedly, to the bathrooms, just for a quick walk through. I bet a two day blitz would tone things down.
Throughout my own childhood elem school yrs, I attended a small private school & I remember using the bathroom when class was in session...hey, I couldn't always just go during rcesses/lunches sometimes. There were a couple of male custodians & even back then, I remember thinking that 1 of them especially looked like a kind of scary/seedy person (pedophile type, etc.), so I admit I was a little scared when I saw him. I think if I saw him around, I would use another bathroom quickly & get back to class. My mom didn't like that there were men custodians at the school either & also thought 1 looked pretty scary & didn't trust either of them. Now I know appearances can fool us, but 1 DID look scary & I'm sure I wasn't the only one who felt that way. It's almost like when he looked at you, he'd leer a little. When I was in middle and HS, I was never afraid to use my school bathrooms.
It's happened at every school I've worked in. I don't know if it's a "boys will be boys" thing. I tend to think it's more of a "herd mentality" - no teacher in there with them, so they start of a bit of mischief and get carried away. Last year was really bad - even random checks by the deans didn't stop the destruction. Now that we have a single restrooms (one for boys, one for girls) in each learning area, we have zero restroom issues. There's just no where for them to hide and mess around.
At my school it's the middle schoolers & upper elementary causing the issues. They usually start with a sign-up sheet and progress from there. When it gets really bad, the bathrooms are locked, both boys & girls and the entire class as to go at the same time. The teacher checks before letting anyone go in & again after the last student comes out.
I distinctly remember we had a bathroom in the classroom in 2nd grade. I only used it when I needed it and everytime I went in there, it was a mess. Pee all over the seat. Toilet paper on the floor. Soap suds overflowing. I actually used to take toilet paper and wipe everything up (teacher in the making :lol only to be dismayed when I'd go later and everything was all gross again. *sigh*
So, mom thinks custodians should only be women? Were there ever any valid reasons to think that this man was guilty of your suspicions? :wow:
I'm not saying men can't work in schools period or around little kids at all. Some women can be strange too. My mom has ths thing about men working w/ little kids. And please, no one say anything, that's my mom's thinking. Regarding any valid reasons, not that I knew of, but who knows what happened once I graduated from the school. Plus, every once in a blue moon, you know how you can get a strange/eery/wary feeling (or you can call it an intuition, gut instict, etc.) about certain people and/or situations? Hey, we all have a right to our opinions/feelings. That guy just seemed odd, something off, scary, etc.
It's good to have an inner voice that alerts you to possible danger. I trust my voice. As far as men working with kids ...I work with intelligent, kind and caring professionals. Men and women. I can't imagine our school without Mr. F, Mr. B, Mr. P, Mr. G, Mr. K....they make a positive difference in the learning of children every day.:thumb:
YES! I had a bad feeling about someone recently and last week I found out why. I tried to ignore the feeling as I always want to give ppl the benefit of the doubt but I regret it very much now. Never ignore that intuition.
There were boys last year who liked to wet balls of toilet paper and throw it up on the ceiling. The poor custodian who had to figure out how to get it off-they were pretty high ceilings. You never think you actually have to say to your kids "please don't throw wet toilet paper on the ceiling!". We've drilled it into them this year to take care of their school. I catch mine actually wiping down the metal trash can for the paper towels to make it "shiny". Not sure that's sanitary, but they are certainly taking pride in their restrooms. :thumb:
We now have it narrowed down to just a few suspects...whenever a suspect leaves a classroom to use the bathroom, the teacher calls the office and asks 'to have the heat checked'
I *NEVER* used the restroom when I was a student. Our school bathrooms were super disgusting. If I had an emergency I'd beg the school nurse to let me use the little one in her office. :lol: These days we have a staff restroom and I don't go in the kids one unless I have to. Our kids are monsters in the restrooms. I feel terrible for our janitorial staff.
I went to school a long time ago, and don't remember this being an issue. I do remember the girls hanging out in the bathroom, but they were not smoking or doing anything wrong.
This always comes up in our school, also. Some years, the teachers have to take the whole class to the bathroom together. That seems like such a waste of time to me. Fortunately, I have a bathroom right in my own class!
The smoker girls hung out in the restroom so I avoided it. We take the whole class to the bathroom. Girls line up on one side boys on the other. Only 1 in at a time. The bathroom is close to the classroom but it still takes time.
In the elective wing we all kept logs (it was first to CYA) Because of the core subject teachers' different levels of discipline/control we had to "walk" a middle line on "potty passes", after about a week of logging we compared logs, we caught the social meeting "potty passers." Sally from my class was going to the RR at or about 10:15, Ellen from FCS was going at or about 10:15, Rosa from Computers was going at or about 10:15, Juanita from Art was going at or about 10:15, and all were coming back to class at about the same time. We sat down with the girls and the VP and it was resolved (the girls got after school detention)
