Philly school advocates celebrate new district wellness policy guaranteeing bathroom and water breaks to students

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Public school advocates connected with parents outside of a West Philly elementary school on Wednesday to celebrate changes to the district’s wellness policy.

The School District of Philadelphia approved a new policy last week guaranteeing students recess, bathroom access and water breaks. In the past, students could be withheld from these as punishment. Parents reported issues with the previous policy, saying it led to distressing situations, including students wearing diapers or having accidents due to denied bathroom access.

After nearly two years, Lift Every Voice Philly, a nonprofit organization that helps parents advocate for improvements in the city’s public schools, led a campaign looking to improve the experiences of students within the school district.

One of the group’s founding members, Carrera Wilson, said the work is meant to support students.

“Their kids are going to have a better experience in school, which will create joy and then they’ll bring that home,” Wilson said. “We just want the parents to be happy, want the children to be happy, and eventually this needs to spread to all the students in the School District of Philadelphia.”

The new policy will also guarantee an end to silent lunches and will prohibit the collective punishment of students.

Julie Krug spent the afternoon passing out fliers and said the long-awaited changes show “how powerful parents can be when we organize.”

“These felt like basic human rights, honestly,” Krug said. “We want school to be a better experience for kids, and we know that they learn better when they’re happy to be at school.”

Looking ahead, the nonprofit will be hosting its second general membership meeting on March 17 at 5:30 p.m. at 3675 Market St. All parents of Philadelphia public school students can attend.

“We have some new things coming,” Wilson said. “We’re going to continue to fight for our children and make sure that everybody, all children in the Philadelphia School District, have joy.”