Students should be able to use the restroom whenever they want. It’s only natural to need a bathroom break and unfortunately the urge sometimes comes within the first 20 minutes of class and the last 20 minutes of class. 

   Since the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, the school has enforced a rule stating that students may not use the restrooms the  first 20 minutes and the last 20 minutes of each class. This rule is mandatory for all SPS schools operating during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

   The school is taking precautions in order to keep our four days a week schedule and to prevent a major COVID-19 breakout, but is this rule really making contact tracing easier or is it just causing unnecessary problems for students?      

   Take me for example. There I am, sitting in class at 1:20 pm on a Monday, completely absorbed by the fact that I really need to pee and ignoring whatever it is my teacher just said about Picasso. 

   Unless science proves that COVID-19 only spreads within the first and last 20 minutes of class, which it hasn’t done, students should be able to use the restroom whenever they need to. 

   Removing this rule, or even changing it from 20 minutes to 5 minutes, would be better than wasting away a class period trying to hold in whatever it is that needs to be done in the bathroom.