by Sofia Colignon | news editor

We all have those kids in our classes that take the bathroom pass and never come back. If you say you don’t, then you’re probably one of them.

Here’s the thing—if you want to leave class, go ahead. You might be bothering the teacher, but you’re not bothering me. You do you. But when you take the pass and never come back, the rest of the class is stuck inside the classroom and can’t leave either.

“So, what I started doing is giving them a five minute time limit, and if they don’t come back then they don’t get to go anymore,” English teacher Maria Allen said.

So when you actually have to use the restroom, get up and ask the teacher if you can go, they’ll usually say “wait until the person that’s gone comes back,” without realizing that that person has been gone the whole class period. They’re not coming back. And now you, or anyone else, can’t leave either.

Maybe the teacher does realize that they’re gone and decides to take it out on the remaining students in the classroom, and doesn’t let any of them use the bathroom anymore. The person that left is still gone, yet they decide to punish the rest of the students that didn’t even leave.

“It happens during the lunch periods, I think, more often, and then in the afternoon, for some reason kids get together more in the afternoon? They also lock some of the restrooms because of activities that happen in the restrooms. So I don’t know if that affects them taking a while, but I tell them the same thing, that if they don’t come back within like five minutes then they don’t get to go anymore,” Allen said.

My question is, where do they go? I know if it’s a lunch period, people usually skip to go to lunch, but when it’s something like second or third period there’s not really much to do. They might go to the library—that makes sense, but you would still need a pass and I doubt they take bathroom passes, or that they could could walk in without the librarians noticing. Other people do go to the bathroom, only to stand there, by the sinks, on their phones—which might be the smartest idea, but I still don’t get how they do it for the whole class period. Others might walk around the school, but then they risk getting caught if a teacher or an AP is paying close attention. Others meet with friends but, once again, there’s not much to do. I guess if you’re bored, anything is better than staying in class.

If you wanna skip class, don’t take the bathroom pass. People who actually have to use the bathroom or need a break as much as you do have to stay inside the classroom, while you’re out there doing nothing.