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“Saved by the bell” takes on a new meaning for students in a Chicago suburb, where school authorities are putting a cap on the amount of bathroom breaks students can take throughout the school year.

Evergreen Park High School implemented a new policy allowing its high school students only three trips to the bathroom per semester and any additional visits result in making up class after school.

Principal Bill Sanderson justifies the policy as a means of making sure students aren’t using bathroom breaks as an escape from class, and said the new policy enables teachers to hold students accountable during valuable class time.

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The policy, which is optional for teachers, will prevent students from making frequent trips during their four 83-minute classes each day. Sanderson told the Southtown Star that students are not prohibited from going to the bathroom, but that the consequences of more than three visits per term will require them to stay later after school.

Nearby, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel was recently successful in extending the school day in Chicago Public Schools by 90 minutes as a part of his larger plan for the city as the new mayor. The New York Times‘ Thomas Friedman called Emanuel’s agenda “progressive in this age of austerity.”

Perhaps Emanuel can learn from his neighbors on how to keep students in school longer, but NewsFeed thinks saving money on bathroom water would be a new low point for austerity measures.

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