A teacher has been criticised for demanding "proof" that a student was menstruating before allowing her to use the bathroom. The 14-year-old's parents were left outraged after their daughter was denied permission to leave the classroom when bleeding through her tampon and urgently needing to use the toilet.
Student Denied Bathroom Access Despite Emergency
Taking to Reddit, the parent explained that their daughter takes school "very seriously", describing her as a "good student" who "doesn't get in trouble". So when she came home upset about an incident involving one of her teachers, they were quick to ask what had happened.
The mum said: "She emailed me to tell me that she told her teacher that she has her period and urgently needed to go to the bathroom. The teacher said no. She went on to tell the teacher that she was actively bleeding through her tampon and didn't want to get her light grey pants dirty for the rest of the school day. The teacher again said no."
Disciplinary Referral Threat Over Period Claim
Panicked about having an accident, the teenager decided to go to the bathroom anyway, while making sure she followed the school's rule about returning within five minutes. But when she returned to the classroom, the teacher demanded to speak to her in the hallway.
The mum added: "The teacher told her that she doesn't believe her and that she was going to receive a disciplinary referral. She recommended that my daughter have me email her to verify that she has her period."
The situation left the teenager particularly worried because, according to her parent, disciplinary referrals were normally used for more serious issues such as using AI or repeatedly being caught with a phone. Outraged by what had happened, the parent said they drafted several emails to the school before deleting them because they were too angry.
Parent Challenges Teacher's New Policy
Instead, they decided to contact the assistant principal and ask what their daughter should have done in the situation. The assistant principal was reportedly horrified when she heard what had happened, but was attending a conference out of town and had to hand the matter back to the teacher. This led to another confrontation when the teacher called the parent to give her version of events.
The mum said: "The teacher told me her account of the situation and explained to me that she created a new policy and because it was the start of the semester, she was being firm with it. I said, 'She told you it was an urgent because of her period and your response was to deny her, humiliate her and then threaten her'. She said that she just wanted to know that she wasn't lying to her.
I said, 'How did you want me to prove to you that she had a period? Did you want a picture of a bloody tampon or something?' Not my finest moment, especially with my daughters in the car."
The teacher reportedly responded: "No, that's disgusting." The parent said they agreed, hoping it would highlight their point.
She added: "Denying a young woman a bathroom and then wanting proof that she wasn't lying was disgusting. I was very disgusted in this situation." The parent then asked to continue the conversation with the assistant principal before ending the call.
School Addresses Incident and Policy
When the assistant principal returned, she contacted the parent and confirmed that the teacher had been spoken to about the incident, although she could not provide further details because of the teacher's privacy. Despite the ordeal, the parent said their daughter later spoke to the teacher and they both apologised to each other.
They added that their daughter still feels comfortable at school and ultimately wanted her parent to stop discussing the incident with her teacher.
A few days later, the teacher sent an email to the entire class and their parents explaining the new bathroom policy, which had reportedly been introduced because some pupils had been abusing bathroom passes. The parent said the teacher also clarified that students would not be prevented from leaving class in an emergency.
