A teacher in California has gone viral on TikTok for a video he shared showing his class the "poop bucket" and other emergency supplies he had to keep on hand in his classroom in case of lockdowns due to school shootings. The video was posted shortly after the Nashville school shooting that resulted in seven people being killed, three of whom were 9-year-old students. The video has been viewed more than 8 million times and has received over 30,000 comments and 1 million likes.
TikTok users were stunned over the reality of classrooms having to keep something like poop buckets readily available, highlighting the unseen toll the threat of school shootings takes on teachers and students.
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The teacher was frustrated about the need for the buckets in the classroom.
The California teacher who goes by @LarryLexicon on TikTok was visibly frustrated about the need for the buckets to exist in his classroom. In his video he says, “So it turns out people really don’t know why we have these buckets in the classrooms. Because of the school shootings you guys. Right?”
He goes on to address people being upset about the bucket. “Now these people complaining on TikTok complaining about the bucket, how many of them do you think have to go to work every day and have to worry about pooping in a bucket because there's a shooter at the work? Not very many, but you do. Everybody in this classroom does. I do. That’s the reality of school in America right?" he shares.
The teacher ended the video saying, “So TikTok, those of you upset about the bucket — you’re upset about the wrong thing. Let's make sure we're expending our energy being upset about the right things. OK? You can go to House.Gov, contact your local representatives. Make change and create a society where we don’t need buckets in the classroom.”
He closes out the video by asking his class, “What do you think?”
“Yeah!” they can be heard saying loudly together and clapping.
“I think that’s all I wanted to say," he says as he ends the video.
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The teacher implied that if they ended up having to use the bucket, they’d be the lucky ones.
After explaining the need for the bucket in the classroom, he says, “In fact if we were in a situation where any of you had to use this bucket, it’s gonna be a blessing. You know why? Cause it means you're alive. Right?”
Though the teacher rightfully pointed out the seriousness of the situation and the reason behind why the bucket exists in this video clip, he has also used humor to poke fun at the ridiculousness of having a bucket in his classroom.
He posted a sarcastic video about the “bathroom bucket transforming the educational experience for these kids” in which a student is seen raising his hand and the teacher replies, “That’s another great thing about the bathroom bucket you guys. You don’t even need to ask anymore. You can just get up and go.”
He then proceeds to point to a chart showing how bathroom requests declined after using the bucket in class.
TikTok users were stunned by the video.
TikTok users were horrified at the reality of why a teacher must keep a poop bucket in a classroom and even more so at why extra blankets were being stored with the emergency supplies.
“A blanket to cover dead bodies … IN A CLASSROOM. I’m having a hard time just trying to wrap my mind around this, yet I can feel my eyes watering” one user commented.
Another user wrote, “I literally have a knot in my throat watching this.”
Overwhelmingly, many of the comments point to people wanting to see change when it comes to policies surrounding guns.
“When will America care more about children than they care about guns?” one person commented.
“The state of our nation is very sad. If you want your second amendment so bad, fine. Then do something to protect your citizens," another commenter wrote.
There have been more school shootings in the last year than in previous years.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported 3,449 firearm mortality deaths for California in 2020, with a death rate of 8.5 per 100,000 due to firearms.
An organization that has been tracking school shooting events since 2018 counted more school shootings in 2022 than in previous years. There were 51 school shootings in 2022, compared to 35 in 2021 and 10 in 2020, per Education Week.
Sadly, these statistics only confirm the reason that the poop bucket exists in the California teacher’s classroom and others throughout the US.
