Philadelphia Schools Now Guarantee Water and Bathroom Breaks with Daily Recess–and Ban Silent Lunches

In a decision that one advocacy group said would “make dignity non-negotiable,” Philadelphia schools have adopted a new wellness program that will guarantee recess and bathroom breaks.

The program also prevents teachers from withdrawing access to these through disciplinary measures, and guarantees “movement breaks” for every 90 minutes of seat time in elementary schools.

It was last Thursday that a marathon, 8-hour school board meeting ended with a full adoption of the wellness program advocated by Lift Every Voice, who told the Philadelphia Inquirer that some of their members were sending their students to school in diapers since bathroom breaks were not guaranteed.

This grassroots, Black-led, parent organization said that if that weren’t bad enough, trips to the drinking water fountains could also withheld during classroom hours.

Incredibly, the Inquirer reported, these draconian controls on basic human needs took two years to codify into school regs. When they were adopted, however, the organization celebrated with music and dancing.

“I wish we had done this much sooner. But I’m pleased that we’re doing it today,” said one school superintendent Tony Watlington Jr.

Any sort of collective punishment was also banned, which included silent lunch hours—where the entire school body must eat in silence due to the misbehavior of a single student—and the withdrawal of access to recess and bathroom breaks.

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“When we think about children holding their bodies because bathroom access is protected, or sitting for hours without movement, or rushing through silent lunches, that’s not discipline,” Board of Education councilmember Kendra Brooks said. “It’s actually dehumanizing.”

An unrelated measure decided at the same meeting saw the end of school half-days, which according to school district data, was directly correlated with “plummeting” attendance rates.

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