Mercedes Schneider wondered why Rocketship Charters is so reluctant to permit bathroom breaks.

Do you want to know?

Read what Mercedes has to say.

Categories Charter Schools, Discipline

21 Comments Post your own or leave a trackback: Trackback URL

Chris in Florida says:

July 4, 2016 at 2:13 pm

What I oosted at Mercedes’ site:

After reading this post and comparing it to this Talking Points Memo article about for-profit prosons I see more the future of American education, at least for the poor. It is chilling. Moentizing and profiteering fromonce-public services is perhaps the most dangerous evil to come from neoliberalism and neocoservatism.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/features/privatization/two/

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Chiara says:

July 4, 2016 at 2:16 pm

It’s a real public service that we’re finding out about Rocketship because it isn’t a matter of “choice” and it doesn’t just affect Rocketship.

Ed reformers are pushing this theory and these methods into every public school. People need to be aware of what these folks are selling, because they’re hugely influential and our lawmakers are completely captured.

From Rocketship into your (lower and middle income) public school. That’s how the echo chamber works.

The ed tech cheerleading is ridiculously over the top in ed reform. Public schools need to take a hard look at this or they will make enormous funding and priority errors that they will regret. It isn’t just about charter schools. Every ed reform agenda item ends up in public schools. The federal government got their edtech agenda from Rocketship and Summit- they’re the models.

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Akademos says:

July 4, 2016 at 2:25 pm

Breaking: Rocketship Charters Mandate Potty-Wear Uniforms

Using nanotechnology, waste is processed and cleansed within the astronaut-like uniform. Rockets don’t take rest stops. But if anyone commits a calculation error to paper, all file out of the room and perform funerary services.

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Laura H. Chapman says:

July 4, 2016 at 2:25 pm

Theory of action: time on task matters; time on toilet is always, always, always wasted.

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jlsteach says:

July 4, 2016 at 2:36 pm

A couple of thoughts:

1. As with anything, there are always two sides of the story (see the attached article – yes I know, that most here probably consider anything from the 74million as bunk, but there are some valid concerns here – particularly that the reporter never visited a Rocketship school)

2. While this is much different than what has been accused of here, I can tell you that when I taught HS that a rule was put into place to not allow bathroom breaks during the first 10 minutes or last 10 minutes (this is much different than elementary students – I know). The main reason – students would take advantage of going to the bathroom and valuable instructional time was lost…

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- Chris in Florida says:
  
  July 4, 2016 at 3:04 pm
  
  Yes, because unless a reporter saw a child with soiled clothing it can’t be verifiably true.
  
  Of course anyone who has anynknowledge whatsoever of children knows that their smaller bladders require more frequent emptying and that most are unable to prevent accidents if theynreally need to go.
  
  I have no doubt of the truth of this reporting because Imtrust the children and the parents self-reporting.
  
  I also would ask why, if my own teaching and classroom are an opportunity for pleasant learning, a child would seek to escape to a bathroom?
  
  Finding out might be a valuable lesson for the teacher and a help to the child. I had one abused child who hid food and himself in the bathroom and another who went and cried there so she wouldn’t let others know her fears.
  
  Since I had an open and self-regulated bathroom policy I had to talk to my students and ask them if they wanted to tell me why they stayed so long. And then I got them help.
  
  When test scores are your god then human bodily functions mean little and of course seldenial becomes a rule. Why would it not?
  
  I say Let the children relieve themselves! Period.
  
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  - jlsteach says:
    
    July 4, 2016 at 3:11 pm
    
    Chris – There are always two sides…Look at the organization NCTQ that simply looks at syllabi and then makes broad claims about teacher preparation, without never seeing or visiting the teacher prep programs themselves. Why not get both sides of a story? That’s all I am saying.
    
    And we agree – if the lessons are engaging enough kids will not want to leave the classroom.
    
    And while the situations that you mention are rather tragic, and I applaud that you (or someone else) approached the student to figure out why they were out for so long, there are also situations where students simply want to be out of a classroom – are skipping class, etc. Again – I do agree – having engaged lessons should eliminate this problem on a regular basis.
    
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prekmatters says:

July 4, 2016 at 2:44 pm

Instructional time is lost if one has to use the bathroom. For a short time I taught at a charter school housed in my building on Saturdays. It was a 4 hour session and students were forbidden to use the bathroom and had a 15 minute lunch which they ate at their desks while continuing the lesson (peanut butter and jelly with a container of milk) If anyone thinks you can drive 8-10 year old children for 4 hours of lessons without a break, you don’t know how children learn. Trust me, after 30 minutes without a break many of my students had checked out mentally.

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- jlsteach says:
  
  July 4, 2016 at 2:47 pm
  
  prekmatters…no one is stating that one should have four hours with out any break (bathroom or otherwise)…That being said, instructional time can be lost when students (note I mentioned HS students) take advantage of loose bathroom policies and spend minutes/hours outside of the classroom.
  
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  - prekmatters says:
    
    July 8, 2016 at 11:55 am
    
    students who are actively engaged will not take advantage of “loose” bathroom policies. instead of trying to regulate human’s need to use toilets, we should all be thinking about the lessons we are presenting and providing for adequate break time.
    
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Chiara says:

July 4, 2016 at 2:47 pm

Agassi was a keynote speaker at the charter schools conference, along with the Secretary of the US Department of Education, so we’ll be seeing lots and lots more Rocketships:

“Andre partnered with Turner Impact Capital on an innovative new real estate fund – the Tuner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund – to promote the success and growth of best-in-class charter schools in urban communities across the United States.”

It was reported that the Turner-Agassi fund to replace public schools with charter chains has or will raise one billion dollars. That is a lot of money for facilities. To put it in context, the entire Race to the Top program cost about 4.3 billion.

Good for NPR for daring to report on this. People have a right to know what ed reformers in government and the private sector are planning for their communities. It isn’t just about charter schools. This “movement” is hugely influential in government and that impacts ALL of us.

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Chiara says:

July 4, 2016 at 2:57 pm

The ed reform defense of Rocketship is parents are choosing the school. That’s fine as far as it goes but is it the position of ed reformers that if a Rocketship opens across the street from a public school, that public school is not impacted? Public schools in a given area are not systems, one has no effect on the others?

Because that’s nonsense. Public schools are in this, whether they like it or not. Cordoning off these schools as “choice” and ending the analysis there is delusional.

With great power comes great responsibility. Ed reformers have amassed great power in government. Now comes the responsibility part. They wanted to run public schools and they are running all of them. No one outside “the movement” is even heard in government. They can’t ignore the effects on the public systems that existed when they arrived.

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- KrazyTA says:
  
  July 4, 2016 at 5:37 pm
  
  Chiara: this posting and thread are a reminder that when corporate education reform so often “tweaks” one part of a system in a certain way—no matter that it seems somewhat trivial—there is an underlying principle guiding their pedagogical and management practices.
  
  On a more superficial level, this might seem to be just an example of an accidental worst practice. But it’s not some unintended byproduct of rheephorm because it makes perfect sense if the point is to make ₵ent¢, i.e., $tudent $ucce$$ as measured by ROI—
  
  Leaving aside the dubious fiction of a real distinction between for-profit and non-profit rheephorm charters, for example; clearly not in sync with the rheephorm mantra of “it’s all for the kids!”
  
  And another example of how a zealous focus on the scores generated by high-stakes standardized tests and their kin—and the misuse and abuse of those numerical chimeras—overwhelm decency and honor.
  
  Always to be understood as intended for, and pushed down the throats of, OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN.
  
  For THEIR OWN CHILDREN, for the schools they intend to err on the side of indignity and humiliation—
  
  Need I say more?
  
  Thank you for your comments.
  
  😎
  
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- KrazyTA says:
  
  July 4, 2016 at 7:04 pm
  
  Near the end of my comment, “for the schools they intend” should read “for the schools they attend.”
  
  😎
  
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mediakathie says:

July 4, 2016 at 3:12 pm

my school eliminated all my seven minute “passing” time (between the eight classes i saw a day) breaks the last year i taught…….i DID get lunch around 11, 25 minutes….however, without those passing time breaks, as a older woman not being able to use the bathroom was horrible….i developed bladder issues….my urologist asked me at my first appointment “what is going on in schools, i have never seen so many teachers before….” …..this was before BATs, before NPE, and i didn’t realize i was being bullied….because it WAS bullying….my new broadie principal was doing her best to push veteran teachers out….this was one of the strategies…..

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SomeDAm poet says:

July 4, 2016 at 4:42 pm

What Rocketship and other charters really need is a special student computer cubicle that has a builtin toilet under the chair (or maybe one o f those hose things the astronauts use)

That way students would never have to ‘waste” a single minute. (Get it? waste a single moment)

Come to think of it, I should patent the idea and then sell them to the charters. I could make a mint.

maybe Bill Gates would give me some development money. I hear he is into toilets.

PS It’s my idea. lay off.

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- SomeDAM Poet says:
  
  July 4, 2016 at 4:51 pm
  
  Gates could also install them at Microsoft for his employees.
  
  And maybe for his wife and kids.
  
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- Chris in Florida says:
  
  July 4, 2016 at 5:08 pm
  
  Sadky, this already happens. The people who prepared your chicken for the barbecue today may have been wearing diapers:
  
  http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/poultry-workers-denied-bathroom-breaks-wear-diapers-oxfam-report-n572806
  
  Evil greedy corporations, charter operators or other.
  
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- Laura H. Chapman says:
  
  July 4, 2016 at 10:41 pm
  
  Several readers have commented on the loss of instructional time for trips to the bathroom.
  
  The National Center on Time & Learning was set up to encourage schools to extend the school day. Bathroom trips were not a major reason. The Center promotes the idea that a longer school day is a good idea, especially for low-income and minority students. The extra time allows for greater mastery of the 3R’s plus content in science, social studies, and “enrichment.”
  
  But there is also a bit of weirdness. In 2011 the Center received $1,311,003 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation “to measure engagement physiologically with Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Galvanic Skin Response and to develop a scale that differentiates different degrees or levels of engagement.” An additional grant in the same year was “to identify quantifiable non-cognitive mechanisms associated with educational attainment.”
  
  The repertoire of bizarre techniques for pushing “educational attainment” is ever-growing. There is a whole program built around a doggy avatar teaching character traits to the wee ones. Actually, real dogs can teach us a lot, sometimes more than we ever wanted to learn. This program claims to be based in research.http://rippleeffects.com/bouncy-the-people-trainert/ .
  
  I am reminded of the baby Einstein products, recently revived, here with comments from designers. http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/new_logos_and_packaging_for_baby_einstein_and_bright_starts_by_duffy.php
  
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Gordon Wilder says:

July 4, 2016 at 7:30 pm

Another view
maybe the people who make up these rules should take MORE bathroom breaks.
Then they might not be so full of you know what.

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RageAgainstTheTetsocracy says:

July 5, 2016 at 3:22 pm

Who says that the toilet is now obsolete at Rocketship Charters?

Good Morning Rocketeers! Welcome to the morning launch, today’s lesson is all about the excretory system, kidney function, and grit. Please raise your hand if you have to go the bathroom – two hands if you have to go really bad. Excellent Rocketeers, now let’s see if you can pass our kidney control activity – with a little extra grit we know you can.

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