{"id":157105,"date":"2026-04-04T10:45:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T10:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/157105\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T10:45:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T10:45:05","slug":"how-philly-parents-helped-guarantee-student-bathroom-breaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/157105\/","title":{"rendered":"How Philly parents helped guarantee student bathroom breaks"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story was originally published<\/a> by Chalkbeat,\u00a0a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.<\/p>\n

On an unseasonably hot March day outside Bluford Elementary School, Cat LaTorre hustled from car to car handing out flyers. <\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0Philly students are guaranteed water and bathroom breaks under district’s new wellness policy<\/a><\/p>\n

The bold purple lettering spelled out the School District of Philadelphia\u2019s new wellness policy guaranteeing kids daily recess, regular bathroom breaks and more. But to LaTorre, they represented something on top of that: victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the things we won for you, mama,\u201d she said to a parent and her daughter driving off at dismissal time. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to do bigger and better things for you.\u201d <\/p>\n

LaTorre is one of dozens of parent volunteers with the grassroots advocacy group Lift Every Voice Philly. They\u2019d spent the better part of two years confronting district officials and city leaders<\/a> with stories of students wearing diapers to school because of insufficient bathroom breaks. They sent letters and testified in meetings about entire classrooms of students being punished for a single kid\u2019s bad behavior. They showed up to Philadelphia City Council meetings demanding joy for their children<\/a>, and said they didn\u2019t think that was too much to ask.<\/p>\n

Lift Every Voice\u2019s work shows how hard it can be for parents in the city to affect change, but also how it can be done. It took a lot of advocacy, false dawns, and more than one tearful school board meeting to do what at one point felt impossible to the group. These parents, most of whom had little formal history or background in activism, ultimately had a major influence on policy in the big bureaucratic system that is the Philly school district. <\/p>\n

And other parents are starting to take notice. The district\u2019s proposal to close 18 schools<\/a> has spurred hundreds of Philly families who\u2019ve never considered themselves education activists to look for an advocacy playbook that gets results.<\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0This Philly elementary school is slated to become a middle school. The community is urging the district to reconsider<\/a><\/p>\n

Following a Board of Education vote last month, it\u2019s now official district policy that all students will get daily recess<\/a>, regular movement breaks to stretch, as well as access to water and bathrooms that can\u2019t be restricted as punishment. In addition, teachers can no longer collectively punish groups of students for the actions of a few, and students can\u2019t be forced to have \u201csilent lunches\u201d where speaking is prohibited.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe navigated something that is so significant, that is life-changing for our kids and for our families,\u201d LaTi Spence, a member of Lift Every Voice, told Chalkbeat.<\/p>\n

Councilmember praises Lift Every Voice\u2019s \u2018community power\u2019<\/p>\n

Just days after the school board\u2019s vote, in a blur of metallic purple pom-poms, members of Lift Every Voice celebrated the landmark policy change at the district\u2019s headquarters. Superintendent Tony Watlington and other local dignitaries stood arm-in-arm with the LEV parents. <\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and it never will,\u2019\u201d Watlington said, quoting the abolitionist Frederick Douglass. \u201cI wish we had done this much sooner. But I\u2019m pleased that we\u2019re doing it today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, \u201cpower\u201d over Philly public schools resides with district leaders like Watlington and the school board. <\/p>\n

The board\u2019s Feb. 27 vote to adopt the policy was perfunctory and took place without debate. But for months before that, it appeared and then disappeared from school board meeting agendas. <\/p>\n

The Lift Every Voice parents discovered there was always another survey to fill out, another person they should meet with, or another time for public comment. <\/p>\n

The process was exhausting and at times, demoralizing, they said. But it wasn\u2019t unfamiliar.<\/p>\n

The wellness policy was not Lift Every Voice\u2019s first demand from those in power in Philly schools.<\/p>\n

The group began in 2022 as a grassroots gathering of Black parents who said they felt ignored and shut out of important conversations about public education in the city. Lift Every Voice\u2019s 2023 campaign to expose the school nurse staffing shortage<\/a> forced a public reckoning and gave the advocates their first taste of success. <\/p>\n

Since then, moms and grandmas in their signature purple shirts have canvassed neighborhoods, visited with members of the City Council, and roamed City Hall. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey testify, they build power,\u201d Councilmember Kendra Brooks said at the celebration of the board\u2019s wellness policy vote. \u201cThat\u2019s what community power looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n

And their success comes as community organizing around public education is seeing a resurgence in the wake of the district\u2019s closure proposals.<\/a> <\/p>\n

At several community engagement meetings and rallies across the city<\/a> protesting the closures, many parents and public school advocates have accused the bureaucracy of Philadelphia schools of creating a wall between families and the district. <\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not insurmountable, parents said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t win all the battles. But this one\u2019s really significant,\u201d Spence said. \u201cI think it\u2019s giving people and parents hope to know that, especially with the news around the school closures, that there\u2019s a piece of joy that we did get and we can hold on to.\u201d <\/p>\n

Changing policy in Philly public schools isn\u2019t easy<\/p>\n

Lift Every Voice Executive Director Shan\u00e9e Garner said changing how the district works can be messy because \u201cour systems are not built to respond to people.\u201d She said the school district has been historically underfunded and has cycled through different leaders, board members, and various amounts of state oversight. <\/p>\n

The core of LEV\u2019s work has been about fostering relationships, Garner said. \u201cIf we want to build a future where everyone is looking out for each other,\u201d she said, it requires elected officials, school leaders, and parents to take the time to get to know each other.<\/p>\n

Julie Krug, another parent in LEV, said she thinks the group was able to move hearts and minds by choosing policy priorities drawn from stories rooted in their personal experiences with their kids and their schools. \u201cWhat I\u2019ve learned is how powerful that really is,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s irrefutable.\u201d <\/p>\n

Building sustained parent power also requires educating families about the levers of control and the city\u2019s political hierarchies, and how to navigate them. <\/p>\n

At meetings, volunteers run through scenarios about issues like bullying, vaping, and advocating for resources for students with disabilities. They discuss how to find the right person to reach out to whether that\u2019s a teacher, counselor, assistant superintendent, or administrator. They practice writing an email or note that will best convey their concerns. <\/p>\n

The goal is to demystify the system and arm parents with the knowledge and skills to advocate for what their children are owed.<\/p>\n

Carrera Wilson, another founding Lift Every Voice member and mother of five, said prior to joining the group, she was an activist in her heart and in her mind, \u201cbut actually making moves, making changes, connecting with people that actually can do things? That have some pull? No.\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Wilson said LEV helped her build her confidence, learn how to organize, speak in public, and grow her skills as a community leader. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to fight. It took a lot to get here,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cI just was a parent that cared and didn\u2019t like what was going on in my kids\u2019 school. And now I can actually go home and tell my kids, look on the news, Mommy did this. We won this.\u201d <\/p>\n

In many ways, LEV\u2019s work is just beginning. The group is now working with the district to help develop a plan to ensure the wellness policy is followed, and that schools have the resources they need to follow it.<\/p>\n

The parents\u2019 goal is \u201cbigger numbers, more power, more success,\u201d Wilson said. They want parents to start expecting better of their schools and holding their district accountable.<\/p>\n

Wilson said there was a time where she and the other parents felt like \u201cwe can\u2019t do anything, we can\u2019t bust through that wall.\u201d But Wilson said that to be standing outside Bluford with a list of guarantees they fought for made what she and others in Lift Every Voice did all worth it.<\/p>\n

Carly Sitrin is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Philadelphia. Contact Carly at csitrin@chalkbeat.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story was originally published by Chalkbeat,\u00a0a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. On an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3479,71188,227,23794,69,71,70,233],"class_list":{"0":"post-157105","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-advocacy","9":"tag-bathrooms","10":"tag-education","11":"tag-parents","12":"tag-philadelphia","13":"tag-philadelphia-headlines","14":"tag-philadelphia-news","15":"tag-schools"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}