A teacher at a charter school in Memphis is feeling the heat after her super-restrictive bathroom visits policy for her middle school students has come under fire. A parent whose child goes to Aspire Hanley Middle School first posted a photo of the controversial handout to Facebook. She later deleted it, but the picture had already been re-posted by others and is officially “out there.” Here’s how it appeared in a Twitter post:
Your child comes home and shows you this note her teacher had her sign at school.
What’s your reaction? pic.twitter.com/x6hG3HepZJ
— I changed my avi dont freak out🌻 (@iJaadee) August 30, 2018
If you read carefully, you’ll see that the teacher, Mrs. White, has restricted her middle school students to just TWO bathroom/nurse visits a month. From my perspective, that’s crazy, especially when she’s likely to have menstruating girls in her class who may very well need an extra bathroom visit a month, SHEESH.
Now I realize it’s difficult to read tone of voice into the black-and-white print of a school handout, when Mrs. White herself says in the last few lines, “I acknowledge that Ms. White is petty,” I’m inclined to believe that whole handout is condescending and power-hungry, as well as simply unprofessional.
I simply adore my kids’ teachers, and I would love to give this teacher the benefit of the doubt—perhaps she’s dealt with extreme abuse of the bathroom hall pass in previous years of teaching? However, her obvious sarcasm and use of the word “petty” to describe herself does more than give me pause. It makes the whole bathroom visits policy seem mean and it makes her seem like she really dislikes her students.
