Teachers' bathroom pass rules upsets mom of CyFair ISD student

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A CyFair ISD mother is upset over how her child's teacher handles bathroom breaks for students. She says kids are told to earn passes to use the restroom. The district has a different explanation.

"The issue is my children in CyFair ISD are having to earn the right to go to the bathroom, which is a natural occurrence," says Sarah Moreno.

Moreno says this has been an issue for her two sons in two elementary schools, and now at Aragon Middle. Before, she says she got doctors notes to exempt them from the practice. She found two bathroom passes in her sixth grader's binder Monday night.

"I have talked to teachers for over the past eight years many different times," Moreno tells Eyewitness News. "And last night when I received these little passes that my son earned from his binder when I was checking his homework, I was just fed up."

She says good behavior gets the passes. Most of the parents we spoke with outside Aragon Tuesday afternoon say they hadn't heard of such a thing. But one woman we spoke with as she came to pick up her grandson says she was surprised after she spoke asked him about it.

"I asked him if he has to ask or earn points to go to the bathroom and he said yes, in one of the classes. Not all of them," says Diana Sedeno.

A district spokesperson says teachers consistently work with students on practicing good time management and planning their day appropriately. That, she says, includes using the facilities before and between classes.

"I don't want my child to have to stand up and say hey I don't have a coupon Ms. Teacher. I still need to go to the bathroom, it's an emergency. Why should he have to announce that he has to go," Moreno says.

The district says: "The restroom/drink of water coupon is simply one of many incentives created by classroom teachers to motivate and encourage students to maximize their instructional time."

"We should all just have the right to go to the bathroom, period, because we're alive on Earth," says Moreno.

CyFair ISD spokesperson Nicole Ray tells us Sarah Moreno has not contacted the school about her concerns.

A parent from a different middle school tells me her daughter gets three pit stop passes every six weeks for bathroom breaks. Those are given, and not tied to good behavior.