Lafayette has undergone many changes over the years, but as students come back from winter break ready for the new year, they were told there will be new school-wide rules that will be strictly enforced. Students at Lafayette High School have in the past been limited to four bathroom passes per class for the whole school semester, and now it has been upped to six bathroom passes. In the past years, this rule was enforced less, but now it is being asked by admin to enforce it strictly, so teachers are cracking down on it. Teachers have been made to enforce this rule to limit the number of students roaming in the hall at any given time.
Students have previously been known to wander the halls to avoid being in class, which has caused the administration to create a limit on hall passes. This limitation has caused a stir among the students. Some students believe that the six-hall pass rule is ridiculous and that it is not enough. Others believe six is plenty. The Times interviewed 10 Lafayette students for their opinions; most only had negative remarks. A Junior Student at Lafayette responded, “I think this rule is very dumb. You can’t know when you are going to [need to use] the bathroom, [sometimes] you just need to go.”
When students walk through the halls of Lafayette, they may see a very large portion of students carrying water bottles of various sizes. The newest trend amongst students is Stanley Cups, also known as Stanleys. The Stanleys’ students tend to hold 30-40oz, a large amount of water. An article by the Cleveland Clinic stated that water reportedly takes 10-20 minutes to digest, and the need for the bathroom arises.
Before coming to school, many students like to eat breakfast, have a smoothie, or go somewhere to get breakfast on the way to school. Many students also like to get iced beverages such as an iced coffee from Krispy Kreme or an energy drink from Seven Brew. In classrooms, many students have an iced coffee or another beverage that they sip on while they complete their work in the morning. It doesn’t take long for the foods students have eaten to go through their body’s digestion process and colon, leading to them having to use the restroom. Caffeine is also something students usually intake in the morning to come to school with the energy to work. Caffeine is known to stimulate colon activity, which causes you to have to use the restroom.
Many students have to hold their bladder for up to an hour and wait until class changes to go to the bathroom. This can cause harmful infections such as Urinary Tract Infections or UTIs. Not only are the bathrooms packed during class change, but long lines mean students must wait a while for their turn to use the stall.
The class change time is also only 6 minutes long, and students still have to travel to class after using the bathroom. Lafayette also has a tardy rule, which states you can have no more than six tardies before you receive disciplinary consequences. Lafayette is a large building with an overpopulation issue, so students may receive a tardy if they use the bathroom during class change.
There needs to be more than six hallway passes for Lafayette students. A person’s bladder cannot be controlled. An unlimited amount of hall passes is the recommended amount. A solution for those who tend to abuse the pass should be that they are escorted to the bathroom. Those who don’t abuse the passes shouldn’t be punished for the actions of others.
