A middle school in North Carolina has reportedly decided to remove toilet mirrors due to an uptick in pupils creating TikTok movies in the restrooms during class time.
“Students were going to the bathroom for long periods of time and making TikTok,” Alamance-Burlington School System spokesperson Les Atkins told Fox News. To prevent the distraction, Southern Alamance Middle School in Graham, North Carolina removed bathroom mirrors.
The educational institution claimed that students normally use the restroom three to four times per day. However, there has been a constant trend, with pupils now going to the restroom seven, eight, or nine times a day. Mr. Atkins added that since the mirrors were removed, the school has observed “”not as many visits to the bathroom, not staying as long, and students are held accountable, and when there’s accountability, you see a great difference.”
Mr. Atkins Added That The School System Is Attempting To Educate Children About “Digital Citizenship”
Mr. Atkins added that the school system is attempting to educate children about “digital citizenship,” according to Fox News.
“We’re trying to educate students. Like, we all have cell phones now. We have to learn to use them. We have to learn when to put them down,” he told WFMY. The school is also installing Smart Pass, a computerized hall pass system that, according to administrators, will allow pupils to check in and out of class. According to school leadership, the goal is to allow staff to better track where pupils are at all times for safety and accountability purposes.
“We strive to limit distractions so students can focus on learning,” Southern Alamance Middle School stated in a letter to parents, according to WTVD. “Though this is an adjustment, we believe these changes will foster a better learning environment by minimizing disruptions.”
According to the school administration, the digital hall pass system is free of charge because it is linked to the existing software that the school and district already use.
