A policy at Evergreen Park High School gives students three restroom visits during class per semester. After that, they have to make up any missed class time after school.
Principal Bill Sanderson told the (Tinley Park) SouthtownStar that the policy is designed to make sure that students don't miss valuable class time. He says it deters them from using restroom visits as an excuse to miss class.
Each teacher gets to decide whether to enforce the policy in their classes.
But some students argue that they don't have time to stop at the restroom otherwise because they only get five minutes between classes.
Dominque Maclean was home on time Monday because of a doctor's note for a urinary track infection. The evergreen park high school freshman doesn't need to worry about staying after school to make up missed classroom time for taking a bathroom break.
"I would be jiggling in my seat not finishing work because I can't focus on anything else trying to hold it in," she said.
Dominque says she sees many students moving in their seats trying to hold in. She said it's especially uncomfortable because their classes are 84 minutes long. Parents too question the wisdom of the policy. "Its very easy for girls to have health problems from being forced not to go bathroom and just the stress of that," parent Kathi Diamond said. "It would be very difficult for girls to focus." Said Linda Gigliello, Dominque's mother, "I think going to bathroom is nature and it should be done whenever it's needed."
The Associated Press contributed to this report
