Upstate NY Teachers Union Calls For Potty Training Policy for Students

Teachers in a New York union say they're spending too much time changing dirty diapers and they're calling on their district to do something about it.

The Buffalo Teachers Federation says the school district needs to do something about the time that's spent changing students' dirty diapers.

Buffalo school districts offer universal pre-k, which admits students as young as 3 and 4. Often, those children have not been potty trained - and it ends up falling to the teachers or teachers aides to change diapers. Neither teachers not teacher aides are required to change diapers as part of their contract.

The New York State Education Department has issued guidelines - which the district follows - which says children cannot be excluded from pre-k or kindergarten for not being potty trained. The district isn't allowed to make potty training a "condition of enrollment" but they are permitted to work with parents to help get children out of diapers.

The union is pushing for teachers and teacher aides to receive additional compensation for changing diapers or to create a policy that requires that kids be potty trained before they attend school.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Should a child have to be potty trained in order to attend school?

[h/t WIVB.com]