Restroom rules at Lehigh Senior High School are causing controversy

What if you could go to the bathroom, only if you had someone go with you? That is the policy at Lehigh Senior High School. It leaves students waiting at their desk until a security guards shows up.

Alexia Tatum said it is not fair that every time any student at Lehigh Senior High School needs to use a bathroom, he or she needs an escort.

“I think we’re capable of escorting ourselves to the bathroom there and back and keeping the restrooms clean,” Tatum, 18, said.

But the School District of Lee County said it had not received any complaints about the policy from parents or students. Also, other schools have a similar policy. They maintain that it is about keeping students safe.

Jackie Corey, principal of Lehigh Senior High School, said the rule helps keep control of what students are out of class and what they are doing.

“These are strict precautions,” Corey said. “But, they are definitely needed to keep our students safe.”

However, some parents say the policy that has been in place since the previous school year goes too far. There is an online petition asking the school to consider changing its policy, calling it cruel and unusual punishment.

“I mean, I think they should be able to give them some kind of freedom,” said Mary Hensley, a parent. “When they said they installed on these cameras, shouldn’t they be able to keep an eye on them?”

With 2,600 students, Lehigh Senior High School has the most students in the district.

Shelley Deguzman, a grandmother, supports the restroom rules.

“You can’t be too secure in this day and age,” Deguzman said. “It’s a sad world we live in.”

Tatum said she would like to see the school return to its old policy and flush the other one down the toilet.

“They should do what they did last year and have us put in a pass for the restroom,” Tatum said. “And if you go past that time limit, then you don’t get the pass at all.”