The new bathroom pass policy at John Handley High School has been met with anger and frustration from parents, students, and teachers alike. It is not approved of by anyone other than administration. It punishes people who are doing no wrong and doesn't seem like it will end any of the issues with skipping or vandalism.

For one, it just makes it incredibly hard to get to the restroom. Students have to ask a teacher if they can leave for the restroom, submit a request for a Smart Pass, have the Smart Pass approved, turn in their phones, get the physical pass, and THEN check in outside the restroom assigned to them. Restrooms have been blocked off, sometimes making it a much farther distance from classrooms to restrooms. Should the bathroom be occupied, there is even more of a wait.

This negatively affects people who have digestive or bladder issues, as well as every girl in the building who has a period. These are emergencies- if you have to go to the bathroom, you have to go. If you are about to bleed through your clothing, you have to go. People now have to explain often embarrassing details about why they need to get to the bathroom quickly. It's a form of public humiliation whenever someone now has to go up in the front of the class and explain why it's urgent.

Now most people's options to go to the restroom during school hours are restricted to the few minutes we have between classes, or if they're lucky, waiting to get to the innovation center where there aren't harsh and insane restrictions on bathrooms. Visiting between classes isn't a great choice either, as it leads to being late to class.

The safety of the school is also a concern with these passes. You have to turn in your phone in order to get a bathroom pass now. Assaults, physical and sexual, occur so often in the school- and with no punishments for the perpetrators- that many people do not want to leave class without their phones. Female students, especially, are harmed by this, as it is a hostile environment and having a cellphone is often the first line of defense or to ask for help against these things. I wouldn't leave my classroom without it.

It also harms academics. This kind of waiting in discomfort, due to the heavy disincentives to even ask to visit the restroom, distracts from class. People become so focused on the need to use the restroom that the actual class is an afterthought. Almost every student now hates the school administration as well, leading to what feels like a very hostile and tense school environment.

This rule unnecessarily punishes people who don't skip classes and who don't vandalize the bathrooms. I encourage every student, and every parent of John Handley High School students, to sign this petition and show administration that the rule needs to go.