Teacher Denying Restroom Access Over a Student's Grades

Attorney Answer

Texas law forbids this by name. Under Texas Education Code § 37.0023(b), a school district or school district employee “may not apply an aversive technique… to a student,” and § 37.0023(a)(4) defines an aversive technique to include one that “denies adequate sleep, air, food, water, shelter, bedding, physical comfort, supervision, or access to a restroom facility.” Withholding the restroom to punish a student for failing grades is the conduct that provision describes.

Two details make this stronger than it may look. First, § 37.0023 protects every student. It is not limited to students in special education, and no medical diagnosis, doctor's note, IEP, or district policy is needed to trigger it — the only exception tied to an IEP is in § 37.0023(c), and it applies to sense deprivation under § 37.0023(a)(13), not to restroom access. Second, § 37.0023(a) defines an aversive technique as one “intended to reduce the likelihood of a behavior reoccurring by intentionally inflicting on a student significant physical or emotional discomfort or pain.” A teacher who withholds the restroom until grades improve is using discomfort to change the student's behavior, which is exactly the use the statute targets. The section was added in 2019 and remains in force.

The deadline is 60 days, and it is already running. Section 37.0023 is enforced through the district's grievance process, not a private lawsuit. Texas Education Code § 26.011(a) requires the board of trustees to adopt a grievance procedure and to address each grievance alleging a violation of “a provision of this title” — and § 37.0023 sits in that title. Under § 26A.002(1)(A), effective September 1, 2025, that policy must give you at least 60 days to file, counted from the date you knew or had reason to know of the facts. If you first tried to work it out informally, you get the later of 90 days from that same date or 30 days from the date the district told you how to file. You then get at least 20 days to appeal each decision (§ 26A.002(1)(B)).

What you can do:

1. File a written grievance now, on the district's own form. Texas Education Code § 26A.003 requires the district to post its grievance procedures and standardized forms prominently on its website and to include them in the student handbook, and to provide a way to file electronically.

2. State the legal violation in the grievance itself: that the teacher's denial of restroom access as a consequence for failing grades is a prohibited aversive technique under Texas Education Code § 37.0023(b) and § 37.0023(a)(4). Naming the statute forces the district to answer it.

3. List each denial you know of — date, class period, teacher, and the reason the teacher gave. The stated reason, that the student is failing, is the fact that establishes the behavior-changing purpose the statute prohibits.

4. Do not let informal conversations run out the clock. Once you file, the district must hold the campus-level hearing by the 10th day after filing and issue a written decision within 20 days after that hearing (§ 26A.002(2)), with appeals running up to the board of trustees (§ 26A.001(b)).

5. Report any retaliation in writing immediately. Section 26A.001(e)(1) requires the district's policy to prohibit the board or any district employee from retaliating against a student or a parent who files a grievance.

6. If the student also has a medical condition affecting restroom needs, request a Section 504 evaluation in writing as a separate matter. That adds a federal layer, but do not wait on it — § 37.0023 protects the student either way.

7. After a board decision, ask a Texas school-law attorney about appealing to the Commissioner of Education under § 7.057. Note the limit: § 7.057(e)(2) says that section does not apply to “a student disciplinary action under Chapter 37,” so whether that route is open here should be confirmed before you rely on it.