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
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.
468 Comments
Keepin it real in the hood!
December 10, 2010 at 8:11 pm
So does the principal.
December 10, 2010 at 8:05 pm
Hey moron, there is nothing wrong with the principal. Sounds like this is a predominately black school populated with thugs.
December 10, 2010 at 8:21 pm
You are clearly RACIST and its sad because this is 2011 and you can’t give black people a break. FYI the majority of the school is hispanic, and the students who fought initially were hispanic and white. And the student discovered of starting the riot was white. You need to mature mentally and put your racist ways aside. You disgust me, and you should be quite ashamed.
April 29, 2011 at 12:28 am
Is black your family name?
December 10, 2010 at 8:05 pm
The bathrooms in the schools should never be locked for any reason since anyone might need to use it to take care of an urgent need in a hurry. The best thing to do is to require a hall pass which can double as a bathroom pass and a teacher can leave a hall pass right at the classroom door so that a student can grab one in the event they need to use the bathroom an in emergency.
December 10, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Why does the caption under the photo say the school is in Brooklyn?
December 10, 2010 at 7:59 pm
When did it become acceptable to riot in high school? When the principal punishes the group, she is wrong, but what other alternative was there? Selecting the few trouble makers is cause for lawsuits nowadays. Parents don’t care about raising their children, as seen by the behavior of these students.
It is against the law to have monitors in the bathrooms, as that is an invasion of privacy. Short of personal bathroom escorts, who have been duly deputized law enforcement officials, what were her alternatives? Of course, it’s Bush’s, Cheney’s, Obama’s, Bloomberg’s…fault. It is certainly not the responsibility of those that spawned these miscreants.
December 10, 2010 at 7:44 pm
Don’t you need your principal’s permission first before posting? NO BATHROOM FOR YOU!
December 10, 2010 at 7:47 pm
No one’s blamed those conservative deities, but obviously you need to point it out.
June 26, 2011 at 4:46 pm
the students were right on they have a right to determine when they see fit that they have to go to the bathroom, this isn’t nazi germany, telling kids they can’t use a bathroom , treating humans like animals!! the kids were right on !! im glad some americans still have a spine!!! wake up people, you are lossing your rights and your libertys, now there are t.vs in walmart telling you to report people!! now this 1984 people, 1984!!
December 10, 2010 at 7:41 pm
But you’re WRONG, it IS Nazi Germany. Bloomberg’s Nazi Machine appointed this dictatorial fascist c\/nt.
Bloomberg follows the same script that Hitler did:
Bloomberg and Hitler both unilaterally broke the law on term limits and extended their terms due to an “emergency”.
Bloomberg and Hitler both like to dictate what healthy activity or food the peons need to do or eat. Hitler was a vegetarian too.
Bloomberg and Hitler both have grand automobile/people mover plans. The Autoban and the massive lane changes in NYC.
Bloomberg and Hitler both hates it when civilians are allowed to own guns. Gee, I wonder why they both like a helpless citizenry.
Bloomberg and Hitler both use “emergencies” to increase their special police’s powers. NYC’s SS even perform overseas “investigations”, like NYC is a wholly separate little dictatoriate.
Bloomberg and Hitler both just love to control how our youths are “educated”.
Bloomberg and Hitler people both wear monochrome colored shirts in a uniform manner. (While it’s true, this is placed here more so that the fascists can have something to respond to.)
I wonder what “emergency” will occur for Bloomberg to break the term limit on the Presidency?
December 10, 2010 at 7:46 pm
Where does having a spine, and standing up for what is right allow for rioting? Was that the first alternative? Didn’t anyone think to complain first? Didn’t anyone call their parent and have the parent complain to the school administration? Using your logic, bombing the building would have been a correct response to the riot.
And by the way, your rights to be safe in society has been taken away by these same deviants. The first sign of protest is to follow the rules, and try to change the system from within. I will be interested in hearing your opinion after one of these darlings causes personal affect to your life.
December 10, 2010 at 7:53 pm
If the students aren’t allowed to use the bathroom, then they would be within rights to use the garbage can in the classroom to go to the bathroom in as an act of civil disobedience.
December 10, 2010 at 8:08 pm
Yeh, they are good a peein on themselves and their race. What about pride? Martin Luther King is turnong in his grave.
December 10, 2010 at 9:09 pm
MLK would be horrified at how the inner city youth act
December 11, 2010 at 2:45 am
If you act like a punka$$ thig you should be treated like one.
This will be good training for when they drop out of school and go to prision.
And you sir, are a frigging idiot.
December 10, 2010 at 8:24 pm
John D , I thought we just called that graduation?
December 10, 2010 at 9:14 pm
Don’t make it a racial issue, but also don’t lie. These things don’t happen to this degree at “white schools” as you call it. They of course don’t happen like this at “Rural Schools.”
Urban schools with large hispanic and large black populations have far more violence. Now you may not like the stats, but you can’t pretend they don’t exist.
December 10, 2010 at 7:26 pm
Unfortunately you are correct. The differenc is that in a “rural” school, parents and teachers still have some, and I use the word “some” with trepidation, control over their kids.
December 10, 2010 at 7:43 pm
– why is that? why do the adults just give away the control?
December 11, 2010 at 2:47 am
Looks like some kind of segregated school ,never heard of it
this ” no Toilet “today order order
would not be given at Stuyvesant HS or LaGuardia arts or …….!
December 10, 2010 at 7:22 pm
You mean at schools where kids actually go to class, respect their teachers and do their work?
Shocking!
December 10, 2010 at 7:37 pm
paulejb: her head…
December 10, 2010 at 7:14 pm
The principal is “accused” of threatening to have thugs arrested? Off with his head!
December 10, 2010 at 7:09 pm
In the near future we will not be able to find anyone willing to teach for a living. We cannot ‘raise’ your children…that is your job.
December 10, 2010 at 7:07 pm
Principal Andrea Lewis is a STONE COLD RACIST………….
WAIT A MINUTE………………
Principal Lewis is Black……………errrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
I’LL GET BACK TO YOU.
December 10, 2010 at 7:05 pm
LOL!
December 10, 2010 at 8:26 pm
LOL, I just love it. They have no pride.
December 10, 2010 at 9:11 pm
The principal overreacted; but the student overreaction is evidence that this school is out of control. The principal is probably incompetent; but the students are definitely in charge of the school–and that is the problem. The school board should take over the school and put more police in the building. Bottom line? The kids are a bunch of animals.
December 10, 2010 at 7:03 pm
They had the right idea in the movie Escape from New York. Just put a giant wall around it.
December 10, 2010 at 6:59 pm
Agree completely!
December 10, 2010 at 7:10 pm
Me three. Animals are treated like animals and sooner than later most will be in cages anyways.
Joe Clark is needed at this dump
December 10, 2010 at 7:35 pm
easy fix to this.close the border.send the illegals back throughout the world.have these kids take over the back breaking jobs the illegals do.they will beg to get back to school.no more fights.bathrooms back open
December 10, 2010 at 6:59 pm
I like how you take an article about school rebellion and try to put an immigration twist on it. Way to go. /sarcasm
December 10, 2010 at 7:06 pm
Well I think this pretty much sums it up.
December 10, 2010 at 6:51 pm
isnt it federally mandated to have access to teh bathroom?
December 10, 2010 at 6:50 pm
No.
December 10, 2010 at 7:06 pm
YES! Having toilet facilities available for students IS mandated!
PLUS when I was in high school, when I had my period, it was totally necessary for me to go to the toilet after every class. I’m not kidding.
This is a matter of health as well as simple humanity
December 10, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Where is Child Protective Services, they love to attack parents. This is a case of child abuse. If a parent did the same thing they would lose custody.
December 10, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Another bleeding eart moronic A_hole
December 10, 2010 at 8:27 pm
You look to be the same, except without the bleeding eart [sic]. How are things coming on your GED? Your spelling looks to be a few years away still…
December 12, 2010 at 2:38 am
This is what happens after 8 years of Bush/Cheney.
Are you better off now or were you better off three years ago?
December 10, 2010 at 6:46 pm
I fail to see just what Bush/Cheney have to do with this.
In answer to your question, I was MUCH better off three years ago.
December 10, 2010 at 6:56 pm
Amen to that, troll1940! My two grown sons were also better off 3 years ago!
December 11, 2010 at 12:38 am
what a freaking lunkhead!
December 10, 2010 at 6:56 pm
Exactly what I was thinking …Thank the lord she is not white ….This is Bush’s Fault
December 10, 2010 at 7:11 pm
What the hell do Bush/Cheney have to do with this? We were all much better off 3 years ago. This has absolutely nothing to do with them. What an moronic answer.
December 10, 2010 at 7:19 pm
We were all much better off three years ago.
December 10, 2010 at 7:28 pm
that’s because the Bush/Cheney economic crash didn’t happen until 2 and 1/2 years ago.
December 10, 2010 at 7:51 pm
Yes I was much better off 3 years ago…I was employed!
December 10, 2010 at 7:44 pm
You forgot to mention Obama. 2 years of Obama is like a thousand years of bad government!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 10, 2010 at 8:20 pm
Oh for pete’s sake what does BUSH or CHENEY have to do with this? Get a life
December 11, 2010 at 8:05 am
i go to this school and alot of the kids are out of control. the principal was trying to cut down on all of the fights. believe me, there are alot of fights in this school. i hate it here. my parents are going to get me transferred after this. i know so many kids who are completely disrespectful at Bergtraum; they are out of control. i don’t think their parents taught them anything.
December 10, 2010 at 6:46 pm
I wonder how Ms. Lewis now feels about her black brothas and sistahs! Now she sees how so many of us view them.
December 10, 2010 at 7:14 pm
wow. are you aware of how so many of us view racist morons like you?
December 10, 2010 at 7:55 pm
Thanks for sharing your perspective, Jon. Unfortunately, when administrators punish the innocent, they win no support.
A better solution, which requires public and legal support, would be to immediately expel thugs – for the rest of the year.
Let them become wards of their parents again. Schools should not be daycare or bootcamps, and students and teachers should
not dread walking through the doors. I don’t think high school should be mandatory. Remove those who don’t wish to be there:
You cannot FORCE a student to learn, and statistics show the thugs – if they manage to graduate, are still low skilled thugs
with nothing to offer a decent society. Why waste these resources on them?
December 11, 2010 at 8:20 am
animals.
December 10, 2010 at 6:45 pm
Good for the kids. The administrators are getting rich exploiting these kids, using their warm bodies to generate revenue, and using police to do problem solving. I went to an inner city high scholl decades ago. There were fights, and there were bad kids, but teachers handled it, and we learned to read write and calculate too! These kids should run this principal out on a rail! They’re being cheated, abused, and criminalized with OUR tax money. We should all riot.
December 10, 2010 at 6:38 pm
Yes. I know I spelled “school” incorrectly. Typos happen.
December 10, 2010 at 6:38 pm
chuck your an idiot. these kids are punks. maybe one of them is your kid.
December 10, 2010 at 7:04 pm
…and your favorite story is ‘The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Feather’.
The inmates SHOULD run the asylum? That is a poor example of your superior education – or is it just an examp[le of the type of education you have?
December 10, 2010 at 7:05 pm
u b a dumb ass
December 10, 2010 at 7:08 pm
this is the most racist set of comments i’ve ever seen… cbs should report on this thread!
December 10, 2010 at 6:33 pm
It’s not racist if it’s true.
December 10, 2010 at 6:57 pm
If parents did their job and taught their children how to behave there would be no need to close the bathrooms.
December 10, 2010 at 6:25 pm
Should have shot a few of the miscreants.
December 10, 2010 at 6:22 pm
They should have lynched the primcipal
December 10, 2010 at 6:22 pm
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.
December 10, 2010 at 6:21 pm
Where’s Officer Krumpke when you need him?
December 10, 2010 at 6:21 pm
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.
December 10, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Even with a 15% increase, the number of home-schooled kids is quite small.
December 10, 2010 at 6:19 pm
I think that’s spot on.
December 10, 2010 at 6:12 pm
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.
December 10, 2010 at 6:12 pm
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.
December 10, 2010 at 6:12 pm
Show me one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 11, 2010 at 8:23 am
First. parents have to care.
Second, they have to believe they have responsibility.
December 11, 2010 at 8:27 am
no first they have to have “parents” not a baby moma
December 11, 2010 at 10:39 am
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.
December 10, 2010 at 6:09 pm
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.
December 10, 2010 at 8:37 pm
A picture is worth a thousand words!!!
December 10, 2010 at 6:07 pm
It’s Cheney’s fault, of course!!
December 10, 2010 at 6:07 pm
Darwin’s Theory confirmed on a daily basis.
December 10, 2010 at 6:05 pm
Darwin NOT confirmed here. Looks like, regression-aggression.
December 10, 2010 at 10:22 pm
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!
December 10, 2010 at 6:04 pm
Americans against the East Coasters… Nice name and pretty funny considering America was founded on the East Coast.
December 10, 2010 at 6:56 pm
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.
December 10, 2010 at 8:30 pm
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.
December 10, 2010 at 5:59 pm
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?
December 10, 2010 at 6:48 pm
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.
December 12, 2010 at 9:43 am
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?
December 10, 2010 at 5:58 pm
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.
December 10, 2010 at 6:34 pm
Thank goodness someone sane reads the news
December 10, 2010 at 6:43 pm
Illegal or not, collective punishment isn’t justified
December 10, 2010 at 7:59 pm
Save your breath Eric. Mark is typical of the unnformed opinionated left.
December 10, 2010 at 8:32 pm
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.
December 12, 2010 at 2:29 am
Dis be a gangsta school – teachin dem to riot!
December 10, 2010 at 5:56 pm
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.
December 10, 2010 at 5:54 pm
Dem stoonts beez mad an sheeeit, noamsayn?
December 10, 2010 at 5:53 pm
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
December 10, 2010 at 5:53 pm
The “M-TV” generation has raised the looser generation. Can they even spell riot?
December 10, 2010 at 5:52 pm
HAHAHAHA coming from someone who can’t even spell “loser” — too hilarious
December 10, 2010 at 6:01 pm
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.
December 10, 2010 at 6:03 pm
I think you meant to say “loser” generation. Glass houses, sir… glass houses.
December 10, 2010 at 6:13 pm
Looser works for me … as in morals – Freudian slip?
December 10, 2010 at 10:16 pm
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
December 10, 2010 at 5:49 pm
Look at the photo and tell me why I’m not surprised this happened at this school.
December 10, 2010 at 5:48 pm
Prison riot.
December 10, 2010 at 5:48 pm
This is all Obamas fault!!
December 10, 2010 at 5:43 pm
Get a life
December 10, 2010 at 5:52 pm
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.
December 10, 2010 at 5:39 pm
@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?
December 10, 2010 at 6:02 pm
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.
December 10, 2010 at 8:35 pm