Bathroom Ban Leads To Riot At NYC High School

Students Say Revolt Came In Response To Overly Strict Policies

December 10, 2010 10:00 PM

Riot at Murry Bergtraum High School in Brooklyn

This cell phone image was captured of a riot inside Murry Bergtraum High School in Brooklyn after students took to the halls in protest over a bathroom ban was enacted. (Photo: CBS 2)

Reporting Glenn Schuck

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NEW YORK (CBS 2/1010 WINS) — Hundreds of students at Murry Bergtraum High School took a stand this week after being told they couldn’t use the bathrooms at school.

Fed up with what some say are strict policies, crowds of angry teens rushed the Manhattan school’s halls, creating chaos, reports CBS 2’s Derrick Dennis.

It was literally a riot — students crowded the hallways, screaming at the top of their lungs and protesting what they said was the principal’s decision to close all the bathrooms to students.

“What happened was two students started fighting, and the principal got mad, and closed all the bathrooms, and then all the kids went crazy and just started a riot,” one student said.

The unrest happened Thursday in the middle of the school day.

Students said Principal Andrea Lewis, who started at the school just this fall, got on the loudspeaker and announced bathroom access would be restricted, after what students said were two fights that broke out during class.

1010 WINS Reporter Glenn Schuck finds out what happened at the Manhattan school

The principal is also accused of threatening that anyone caught fighting again would be arrested.

When asked if Lewis did indeed close all the bathrooms, one student said, “You can say that, but she did say if it’s an emergency you can use the bathroom at the nurse’s office. Everybody got mad and it started a riot.”

The bathroom ban was apparently the last straw at the 2,400-student school next to the Brooklyn Bridge. The building is equipped with its own surveillance video, which school officials said was used to identify those involved in the riot, leading to some being disciplined.

But students said it’s the principal who needs discipline over her strict no-bathroom policy.

One student said the principal’s actions were unprecedented.

“No, this was the first time, because she’s really upset,” the student said.

Bathroom Ban Leads To Riot At NYC High School

Airborne

Should have shot a few of the miscreants.
Randy Feldman

They should have lynched the primcipal
John

It is totally unreasonable to have the bathrooms off limits. If they don’t trust the students maybe there should be teachers posted in the restrooms like maybe they do in preschool.
bernie bouck

Where’s Officer Krumpke when you need him?
AndyTaylor

Is it any wonder that homeschooling is increasing 15% per year? People are trying to get away from this kind of garbage…both the rioters and the principals.

Squat Humor

Even with a 15% increase, the number of home-schooled kids is quite small.

Oath Keeper

I think that’s spot on.
Gypsy

They should riot. Come on you gotta go you gotta go. PERIOD. Fix and address the problem. Don’t blame it on everyone. That is the problem with Politcally Correct. I only wish the entire country’s education system were conservatives and not Socialists or Communists.
MakeThemWearDiapers

Sorry Thomas but these types of incidents happen at white schools, rural schools and suburban schools. Teachers have been preaching to the choir for years, but no one is hearing the music. It is always the educator’s fault so that the student self-esteem remains in tack.

So let’s not make this a racial issue. Instead let’s lobby for one-way mirrors in all class rooms and invite the parents to visit to see their child in action.

KR

Show me one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cowboy

First. parents have to care.
Second, they have to believe they have responsibility.

tt

no first they have to have “parents” not a baby moma

Skip

How do you like being a bigot and a racist? Only an idiot would post a comment like your did. You are indeed a fool.

JohnD

Skip, you are pretty quick to call someone else a fool. It is not bigotry to point out the bad behavior or the vlacks in this school. It is a statement of fact. Moron.

Bruce McClarron

A picture is worth a thousand words!!!
dontwantmail15@yahoo.com

It’s Cheney’s fault, of course!!
HansJurgen

Darwin’s Theory confirmed on a daily basis.

Max Yakov

Darwin NOT confirmed here. Looks like, regression-aggression.

Americans against the East Coasters

You can’[t just close off the bathrooms. You “East of the Hudson” not-even-close-to-being-true Americans, are absolute IDIOTS ONE AND ALL!

John

Americans against the East Coasters… Nice name and pretty funny considering America was founded on the East Coast.

JohnD

You are correct, but today you would be hard pressed to find a patriotic American anywhere neart the east coast., especially in the inner city population.

MakeThemWearDiapers

Good for this principal to shut down the situation and make the students responsible and accountable. Otherwise the students would spread feces and urine all over the bathroom like they usually do. If they want to act like children, they get treated like children. Just because they did not like the alternative DOES NOT give them the right to riot. Glad the story went public, because this behavior is happening all over – not just in New York.

Chuck Curry

So every student in that school is responsible for the fights? What kind of logic is that. If we’re going to extend blame in any direction away from the actual fighters, wouldn’t it make more sense to blame the ADULTS? Who gets blamed when a ship runs aground? The cargo?

MakeThemWearDiapers

It is the same logic the courts use to indict those that stand around and cheer on or cover up other crimes. These situations escalate very quickly. Did you read the article about parents being mad about a teacher not breaking up a fight? The following week a teacher did break up a fight, which resulted in a miscarriage. Those students should be charged with manslaughter, but were only suspended. These situations have nothing to do with hyper-authoritarianism, but everything to do with separating over hyper students, getting them back in class and calmed down.

The students were not denied bathroom rights, they were curtailed down to supervised use. Cognitive research shows that high school students are 75% to 80% responsible for the decisions they make. They chose to riot instead of stand in line. So based on research, the students are the captain of the ship and the principal was the cargo trying to slip back in place after running aground.

Mark

Where is the City Building Department in all this? It is illegal to not provide access to restroom facilities (and not just the bathroom in the nurses office) at ANY public building. Schools have mandated minimum facilities, and if the principal wants to shut them down, she has to close the school.

How ignorant and childish can the principal be to try punishing the whole student body for her inability to control a few students?

Eric

Sorry Mark, but what the principal did was not illegal. Bathrooms can be shut down if it’s for the safety of other students. Facilities were provided in the nurse’s office.

It might not have been the best choice, but trust me, it’s been done before in other areas. It’s not just an NYC thing.

Finally.

Thank goodness someone sane reads the news
Paul

Illegal or not, collective punishment isn’t justified
JohnD

Save your breath Eric. Mark is typical of the unnformed opinionated left.
Mark

Sorry Eric, you are incorrect…as are you JohnD. First, I am a licensed Master Plumber, not some unnformed [sic] opinionated left(ie). The Building Department is required to enforce all adopted laws regarding health and sanitation. The plumbing code REQUIRES a minimum of 1 water closet (toilet) per 40 male students, 1 urinal per 35 male students, and 1 water closet per 35 female students. If the principal wants to shut down access to the bathrooms, the Building Department must shut down access to the school. It is the LAW, and YES, closing the bathrooms WAS illegal. Closing the bathrooms down ENDANGERS the safety of the students. The facilities in the nurses office do not meet the requirements of the law.

HansJurgen

Dis be a gangsta school – teachin dem to riot!
e

Actually, this isn’t unprecedented. I remember in my high school, they closed practically all the bathrooms but one. Even that one was supposedly closed at certain times of the day.
Taytay

Dem stoonts beez mad an sheeeit, noamsayn?
Billy

Besides the Asian / orientals in the school the rest are pure bred ANIMALS
And with Police Plaza across the street
Keep up the great work with the Public Schools Mr Doomberg j hahahahaa
D.C.

The “M-TV” generation has raised the looser generation. Can they even spell riot?

Blop

HAHAHAHA coming from someone who can’t even spell “loser” — too hilarious
Rob

You call people losers and question if someone can spell. You might want to use spell check on your own post before you call names.
DennyCrane

I think you meant to say “loser” generation. Glass houses, sir… glass houses.

Max Yakov

Looser works for me … as in morals – Freudian slip?

cluelessinky

The principal is an idiot. Why punish an entire student body because of the actions of two miscreants? This is what a liberal does, everyone is the same and rewards and punishments can not be meted out to the individual but to the group. While I don’t condone what the students did, I can certainly understand why they did it
Scott423

Look at the photo and tell me why I’m not surprised this happened at this school.
O. B. Server

Prison riot.
fred

This is all Obamas fault!!

e

Get a life

walter12

This is New York, those things are expected in NY. Look who lives in NY. Does that tell you something? One would have to be crazy to live in NYC nowadays.

Rachel Phillips

@walter, just how many times did you go to NY? hmmm never been to NY right, so you get your facts from police shows, movies…. a story of a kids fighting … is that really all you know about NY?

JohnD

I have been to NY many times Rachel and Walter is correct. The entire city is a cess pool.

You should be careful about critizing others when yuo don’t have a clue.

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Bathroom Ban Leads To Riot At NYC High School

Students Say Revolt Came In Response To Overly Strict Policies

December 10, 2010 10:00 PM

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