Imagine devious licks with litter boxes. The entire school would have been COATED in litter.
Also… do they think custodians empty and clean and refill the boxes daily? Do they think the kids have to clean it themselves? I’m so curious to know how far down they’ve thought through this completely stupid thing they believe in.
Right? If the litter boxes existed and you think the adults would lie about their existence, the kids definitely wouldn't.
My aunt is on the school board of a tiny district in rural WI. Her kids attend the same district. Every now and then, one of two of the nuttier residents of the town will confront my cousins to complain about all kinds of objectionable things my aunt is supposedly allowing - CRT in the classroom, porn in the library, litter boxes for trans kids and furries, etc. My cousins have gotten used to saying versions of "We're students at that school and none of that exists there or we would have found it and put pictures online."
This is like Lemonjello and Oranjello all over again. Every person who tells the story swears someone they know personally works at a school told them it was real.
Or Le-A.
Whenever someone tells me about Le-A. I always comment that it must be an incredibly common name because I have heard about her in all three states I've taught in.
My cousin had an Abcde this past year and a few years ago I can’t remember the name off the top of my head but they used that top keyboard row more than once.
It's especially weird because there are actual weird names they could use. Someone made that up, attributed it to black people, and certain white people ate that shit up. Kinda wild
It's telling that the first time I heard about La-a was from Mind of Mencia in like 2008.
As a racist little turd from a nowhere town with no actual minorities in it, I ate it up. But now I'm grown and yeah, clearly made up.
I'm gonna be honest, I don't even know how this one is supposed to work. I know it's fake racist shit, but I can't help but only read "Just Kidding Minnesota".
I grew up in an upper middle class community and definitely heard that one…
But, now I hear the kitty litter one from elementary school kids. The fact that any adult believes this is mortifying, especially a teacher.
I substitute taught in Indiana a decade ago, permanent sub for the school. I’ve been teaching over 10 years in my own classroom now, but I will testify before Jesus himself and you right now that “Oranjello” was on my sub roster one day back around 2010. I asked another teacher how to pronounce it. I had never heard the rumor before, I’m not from a racist background at all and I had never heard it.
Lol Abcde is the one I always hear in the urban legends. I've met no less than 10 people who swear up and down that a friend of a friend taught an Abcde and that the mom was irate because the teacher asked how to pronounce it.
If you truly and honestly had an Oranjello, I think that's neat as hell! When I was student teaching I became acquainted with a kid named Brushley...that name right there feels like child abuse.
Yes! This is true and entirely how you should frame this stupid nihilistic “caring” about kids using litter boxes. Yeah they have cat litter. But it’s because we allow the potential for our kids to get shot at school so that’s how they go to the bathroom during a lockdown.
They also need a gentle reminder that the "identifies as cats" thing is lazy, politically motivated culture-war misdirection created to drown out that harrowing actual reason, and that they are being manipulated, and complicit in that manipulation by repeating it.
It needs to be made clear (even if it falls on deaf ears...) that the source they """heard""" this from is malicious and sees them as nothing more than a gullible tool for spreading this disinformation without question.
The problem with this approach is assuming the people listening to it are capable of shame.
If you really want to fuck with them, tell them the kitty litter is to help clean up the blood from school shootings instead.
Just suplex the boomer back into reality.
Very true, but every comment I've heard about the kitty litter for the furies has been from Boomers upset at the world for moving on from their 'values'.
Ok, but in my experience, it’s mostly younger Trump supporters who think gender fluidity is “woke” and push lies like “kids are identifying as cats and liberal schools allow it” in order to discredit the idea. These are the same people who boycotted Bud Light for supporting a trans woman. Hate has no age requirement.
We needed that back in April. We were locked down for 5 hours. Several people reported using their trash cans. I was waiting for a student to ask and I was so glad I didn't have to face that.
I have said that to several brain dead members of my family, coworkers, and others. They don't want to believe that. They continue to cling to their anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric because they want to.
This works. At thanksgiving there were a couple of cousins clucking their tongues at the “litter for kids who identify as cats” thing and when I explained to them what it was really for, they were properly chastened by the news.
A parent said something similar to my guidance counselor friend. She picked up the phone right in front of that parent, called the counselor at that school and asked if they had litter boxes for students in their school. The answer? No.
You'd hope that this sort of straight forward, direct approach would be enough. I visited family recently and my sister's kids are getting pretty close to school age. I asked my sister if she had decided on a school yet for kindergarten. She tells me that "because of all the stuff going on in public schools" these days, she wont be enrolling her kids in public school.
Me: "What do you mean, all the stuff going on".
Sister: "You know, all the weird, transgender stuff they're teaching kids at such a young age. They don't need to hear about that!"
Me: "Have you directly contacted the schools and asked them if they are teaching kids about being transgender in primary school?"
Sister: "No, but I've heard about it and that's enough".
The real fucking kicker? She's going to put them in a Catholic school, a catholic school! She's afraid of groomers and is putting her kids in a Catholic school. I had to force myself to keep my mouth shut, I still can't believe it.
>She's afraid of groomers and is putting her kids in a Catholic school.
I’d sooner send my kids on a week-long unsupervised trip with a drag show than to church for an hour. At least with the drag show, they’ll be with people who will leave them alone in the bathroom.
As someone who is a big fan of Jesus and the Bible (but don’t like the term Christian because of what it has come to mean in the US), I wholeheartedly agree. I attended a Christian K12 as a kid, and while nothing traumatic happened to me, I’d never send my kids to one.
I started using crystal litter for my cats after my son’s cat rejected it after a visit home. So much nicer, lol.
As to OP, no idea how true this is, but I heard the cat pans and liter were for extended emergency shelter in place for students who need to go. Sad that this is where we are but stock-bumps over education and student safety.
Give them the real reason.
It’s kept on hand in case we have to shelter in the classroom from a gunman for hours on end while the police jerk each other off outside and taze parents. Kids might have to piss while stuck in a life or death situation. . . It takes a while for the gunman’s auto fire weapon to run out of bullets.
That’ll shut them up.
There’s gotta be a word or phrase for a phenomenon where you create a terrible situation and then demonize the solutions/ outcomes.
Like how Jews weren’t allowed to settle/ work with their hands and became bankers. Now they’re demonized for controlling money.
Yes! Whatever that thing is is what Drew Barrymore described in “Ever After” when she said to the prince, “What else is to be concluded, sir, but that you first make thieves and then punish them?”
Or how all the housing projects were for single women. So, predominantly black women claimed to be be single to get the housing. BOOM! The stereotype of the absent black father was born
Let's call it out. This is promoted by the MAGA crowd. They hate public education. They don't care about children who've been born. They don't care about the victims of gun violence. A few thousand dead children is fine as long as they can buy military-grade long guns in a tent at the state fair.
My actual strategy for this is, “oh yeah, I heard about that— there is apparently litter in classroom buckets for school shooting preparedness. for lockdowns. and that somehow turned into a silly rumor about ‘students who identify as cats’ but its actually for real school shooting situations, so.”
I think acknowledging the truth in the situation and bringing up the reality of the situation is helpful when confronting stupid rumors and misinformation. Trying to stay calm and avoiding escalating is helpful to not play into the woke liberal caricature that some people think we are.
Follow that up with "there are demonstrably more students dead by gun violence than students who identify as cats. What's your stance on reducing gun violence in the US?"
This rumor made its way through my district, except my school was the one targeted! The Facebook parents were going nuts and my principal went to all of our rooms to do inspections to see if we had litter boxes (I wish I was joking but that’s how she operates). This group of parents eventually went to the school board and our superintendent completely shut their BS down. The really ironic part is that a lot of those parents didn’t even have kids at my school.
All 5 people who have submitted requests for over two-thousand books to be removed from my district don't have kids in our district. 3/5 don't live here.
These rumors stem from motivated reasoning. People really *want* to believe that schools are so bad teachers are providing litter boxes, so they pass the rumor along because it feels good to do so. Debunking involves feelings that aren't positive, so it's less likely to succeed. Motivated reasoning is becoming the dominant force in contemporary politics.
> that schools are so bad
Of course, the quiet part (that SOME of them will say out loud) is that "bad" means accepting queer people. The litter box thing is transphobic, meant to draw an unfavorable comparison to kids that want to use the ""wrong"" bathroom. That it also gets to make fun of furries (another favorite punching bag) while denegrating the school system as a whole is icing on the cake, for these people.
Well that explains the shorter recesses. I say let them out. there are far too many birds on campus anyway. Evidently we just need to get some bigger birds to devastate the student population. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
Yeah our high school has decided to bring in cassowaries. We rationed out sticks for the students with important parents and the stupid poors get cat litter, it comes full circle!
I would respond “are you lying on purpose or did you actually believe that when someone told you?” And then if they really believe it I would respond “ok” but in a “bless your heart” kind of tone and not talk to them anymore.
I tell them the truth. We don't have litter boxes but we do have litter in every classroom. The reason why is so when we are in a real lock down with a shooter, having litter helps contain bodily fluids and their smell, which could alert a shooter that there is someone in the classroom.
This usually gets them to shut the hell up
This is an anti-trans conspiracy theory. Wikipedia has a huge page about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litter_boxes_in_schools_hoax And Snopes debunked it: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/litter-boxes-bathrooms/
The reality is that a small number of schools have started storing kitty litter in teachers’ closets for emergency use during a school shooting lockdown, for example if a child needs to pee but it is not safe to go into the hallway. It started at the school district where the first famous school shooting took place, Columbine, CO, in 1999. https://time.com/5658266/colorado-district-kitty-litter-buckets-lockdowns/
Isn’t it interesting the political spin on the reality vs the conspiracy theory? 🤔
I remember being really confused the first time I saw a pile of cat litter on the ground at six flags as a little kid. But no one else was saying anything about it and I didn't want to look stupid by asking. The next time I went back a few years later I realized it was puke clean up.
Thank you for doing the work and linking it. If I didn't see a post that did, I was going to have to do it myself.
A councilor in my building actually said this to me and when I told her, she insisted. If this crap has convinced people in our own buildings, it has gone too far. I do work in the reddest of red states though.
That's even meaner than what I might have done, which would be to reply that our school also has litter boxes in every student bathroom then take them to show them, and when there isn't one, ask if they really believe everything anyone tells them without thinking about whether it makes any sense.
Oh, yeah of course! Trans kids are being targeted and harassed everywhere, but there are schools brining in litter boxes for kids with no problem and no media coverage.
…
I read an article about this where the journalist actually did some investigating to try find a true example of it. They took 3 approaches.
1. Tried to track down a source, but everything was "yeah I heard from a friend, whose sister heard it from a cousin who is totally a teacher" or some variation.
2. Asked a bunch of schools, any that had kitty litter, it was in case of lock downs.
3. Asked a bunch of furries who all said "yeah duh, we know we're not animals, we use actual toilets. But also if we did start identifying as our fursonas, the vast majority of us are wild animals, so yeah we'll just piss outside, not in litter boxes."
I hear this a lot and so I start going into the logistics of such an absurd idea. Let’s say each school has 3 bathrooms (3 girls, 3 boys) and each one has one litter box. Each box needs to get changed every 2 hours, so 3 times a day. That’s 18 changes per day. Each box takes 2lbs of litter each change at 36lbs per day. My school year is 175ish days. That comes up to 3600lbs of litter per year. Now, there are about 25 buildings in my district. That comes up to 157,500lbs of kitty litter per year. If a school district like mine needs this amount of kitty litter, where exactly are they storing it? And here’s the best part…I’m in public education. That means budgets a readily available. If a pound of litter is $0.50, please show me on the publicly available, board approved yearly budget where EXACTLY it says $79k per year for cat litter. [Or maybe…](https://imgflip.com/i/3uzlqq)
the thing is these people are just stupid. a lot of people are very, very dumb. now, this isn't a moral failing on their part. stupid people do a lot of hard work on this country and they deserve good lives just as much as anyone else. none of this changes the fact that they are dumb.
After telling them why the litter boxes are really there (school attack), remind them that kids take and post pictures of literally everything and then date them to find an actual photo of anyone using a letterbox on the internet.
"If you can provide a single school's name that does this, we can call them together, and if it's verified by someone in the office, I will eat my shoe."
This is some bullshit right wing rage bait. I'm a teacher in a progressive area and this is exactly the kind of anti education propaganda ment to chip away at the integrity of teachers and the public education system.
Sadly and unsurprisingly its working and being eaten up by a certain demographic of dumbasses
"Hey, just so you don't end up looking like a conspiracy weirdo who spreads false rumors - as in, we can call \[school\] right now, and I assure you they'll give you the facts - you should know that schools that keep 'cat litter' on hand actually have it for emergency purposes, like students not being able to use the bathroom during an active-shooter lockdown. There are people who have chosen to twist that into a way to make it seem like some schools are too accommodating of students identities, so ultimately it's anti-trans misinformation, and if you're hearing that from someone, you should vet the things they say before you repeat them to others and end up sounding ignorant or even hateful."
"That's a lie. The litter is for kids to have a place to pee when they're locked in their rooms for five hours because there's a shooter in the building and the police won't leave the parking lot. Stop watching Fox News."
This story goes around every other day. Realistically if this was happening there would be a ton of pictures. It’s 2024, my 2nd graders have phones. You’re telling me that kids are shitting in litter boxes and there isn’t a single photo? Be fucking forreal.
Tell them to stop listening to Joe Rogan. He's barely a comedian, much less someone who actually gives correct info. Anyone who listens to him should not be in a school setting, but that's just my opinion.
I’ve shared this on here before, but I had a random man with no relationship to the school system inform me that it’s such a shame we aren’t allowed to have an American flag in the classroom anymore.
People just make this shit up and post it on the internet, or say it on their podcast or on Fox News or something, and the people who want to believe it eat it up.
I’m in Alberta, Canada, and the urban legend has reached here! My husband was adamant that it was true because one of his coworker’s friend’s kids got expelled for “meowing” at someone who identified as a cat. 🤦♀️
As someone who had a student literally name and threaten to shoot another student in the middle of a packed classroom, I can tell you personally that expelling doesn’t happen like that.
I work in Edmonton schools. When I visit my rural relatives I'm asked if I'm on litter box duty. It's frustrating how gullible people are.
Expelling students is next to impossible. They pretty much have to bring a weapon to school and threaten someone. Even then there's a hearing
My mother in law constantly posts on facebook how certain things should be at school. I will reply we still do that daily. Or I will let her know not once have I seen that in a school I have been in in the 3 states we have been in. Nope, she chooses the negative and believes the junk. UGH
I have relatives that are convinced we no longer teach kids to tell time. I sent them the link to Standard 2.MD.C.7 - "Tell and write time from analog and digital clocks to the nearest five minutes, using a.m. and p.m." as proof that we do, in fact, teach kids to tell time in 2024.
However, because it was Common Core they went down some new conspiracy rabbit hole.
Edit: Fixed Typo
>How do we combat this ridiculous rumor?
Easy. You say, "*No*, the litterboxes are for when we have Lockdowns because of America's insane gun laws. We get locked in our rooms and the kids (or I!) need somewhere to go potty. I hate the NRA."
Districts by large quantities of kitty litter to put in buckets so students can go to the bathroom when in lockdowns because politicians refuse to do anything about school shooting other than offer thoughts and prayers.
Ask them to see the picture
Because nobody who saw that wouldn't take a picture
There will be an excuse (no phones allowed, etc) and then go "well I get your a good person/ your kid is / etc, but someone took a photo and put it on snap! They had to. Someone took a photo. Let me see it"
One of the things I ask folks who mention this is whether or not they've seen any video evidence. I point out that at my high school, everything gets caught by students on video for Snapchat or IG or TikTok, so if they haven't seen actual video, it's not happening.
We literally find out about fights as they are happening because of Snapchat. These kids are absolutely going to video a cat box in the bathroom if they see one.
“Oh I didn’t know you believe in conspiracy theories—“ with a :/ expression usually knocks a few of them down. The ones who lean into it further aren’t worth talking to anymore.
Yeah. We have a student who identifies as a Holstein heifer. The school district had to purchase five acres next to the school for her to graze and use the restroom. We had to take the homes through eminent domain.
Urgh. This is complete media moral panic nonsense. There's a documentary podcast episode of Things Fall Apart by Jon Ronson where he explores the truth of this.
Basically
1) it's BS, and the rumour came from one school where the teacher said it as a joke. People thought he was being serious.
2) lots of schools in the US do have buckets of cat litter in classrooms, but this is only in case they have to be used by (human-identifying) students/staff who are stuck in the classroom because of school shootings.
That's literally the whole story.
I can't find the link now, but there was a tiktok video featuring a teacher. He pointed out that every kid in every school across America has a freaking cell phone. There is nothing that a child can do, in any school across America, that wouldn't be known about by the entire building (possibly the town) within 20 minutes. There would be photographic evidence, or videos and they would be spread around instantaneously.
There would be hundreds of thousands of Snapchats and Tiktoks of the litter boxes if they were actually real.
The fucking far right is shitposting conspiracies to dehumanize anyone not a straight, white, evangelical protestant male and this is one of them.
Unfortunately, there is absolutely nothing we can do that will deprogram that hateful cult.
The good thing is that when I hear that come out of someone's mouth, I know immediately that they are utterly stupid.
One of the Moms For Liberty whackjobs in Round Rock (Texas) started pushing that. She's now running for the position of the Williamson County GOP party chair.
People took her campaign posters and started Photoshopping them as a result. They shopped a [furry in with a litterbox thanking her in one,](https://i.imgur.com/Zngj6KK.jpg) then added rainbow furry tails and ears to her with a trans pride flag in another, since she's also a very outspoken and vicious transphobe.
She _hates_ them, needless to say.
Oopsie-doodle.
Our superintendent had to write a letter to address the fact that we don't have litter boxes at our school.
We have almost 80K students and over 100 schools. I'm sure he has better things to do than write a letter for gullible conspiracy theory people.
Omg please LET THIS DIE! IT IS FAKE, and so stupid. We wouldnt give out litter boxes, we utilize our bottomless budgets to provide each student with a robotic self cleaning litter container
We can barely get the custodians to sweep our rooms let alone clean out an human sized litter box. It is a shame that a fellow educator can be so easily duped.
If an actual teacher told you this, and neither you nor they are trolling, that teacher is a fucking idiot and should be trusted with neither children nor sharp objects.
Be sure to let them know the buckets of litter are actually to soak up the blood and vomit while we do trauma care on any survivors or to serve as emergency toilets during extended lock downs.
You combat this by looking them straight in their eyes and saying that it is nonsense and if they believe it they should change careers as they clearly don’t have the critical thinking skills our students deserve.
I and many others have noticed a an uptick in conservative attacks both unfounded and true against education and this is definitely part of that.
There’s a great former teacher who makes YouTube videos now focusing on politics and pedagogy, Zoe Bee. I found [this](https://youtu.be/bo0M3H1QsEQ?si=_V7IpK2vo_7UcY06) video a while ago to be very informative on the matter
"How do we combat this ridiculous rumor?"
You have to find the pizza parlor where Hillary Clinton was running a child-sex-slave operation in it's basement; the whole nerve center of this is down there!
Please, school will not even pay for paper towels. The fact people think they will purchase expensive litter.
If this were true, every student in the building would be posting pictures of the litter box.
I always say, if that were true it would be an OSHA violation. Complete biological hazard. They are not going to have open human feces and urine in a box.
So, get in contact with OSHA and report it and it will be solved relatively instantly. Oh, you don't know where it happened but it did according to so and so? Have them contact OSHA. It's a non problem because you can personally solve it if it was
My mom told me about this and I just responded "you really believe that?" After properly considering it, she did decide it sounded ridiculous, rightfully. Some people just can't help but spread any information they hear no matter how stupid it sounds. We need to teach people to think critically rather than just letting them regurgitate anything and everything they read or hear.
So I work in what might be the only city that does actually kitty litter in classrooms in the whole world. Not all classrooms, but definitely some.
Christchurch NZ.
After a couple natural disasters and a major terror attack that resulted in schools being locked down for 5 hours it’s now a thing where some of us do keep litter, a bucket, and toilet paper in our classrooms. It all seems a bit silly until hour two of a lockdown when a kid desperately needs the toilet and the only option is the bin (yep that did happen).
You tell them that it started because classes have buckets of kitty litter in them next to the tourniquets they have for the event of a mass shooting where they’ll have to wait in silence for hours until they can reunite with their family.
Thankfully bump stocks are back baby!!!!!!!
I would point out that if there were actually litter boxes in the bathroom, every kid would be posting about it on tik tok. Yet that's not happening
This is my strategy for these people. I’m like “yeah, if that were real, there would be pictures and it would be all over the news.”
But THEY don’t want you to know! /s
💀💀💀
LITERALLY pics or it didn’t happen
“Ofc it’s not in the news, commiefornia citizens normalize it!”
Imagine devious licks with litter boxes. The entire school would have been COATED in litter. Also… do they think custodians empty and clean and refill the boxes daily? Do they think the kids have to clean it themselves? I’m so curious to know how far down they’ve thought through this completely stupid thing they believe in.
Right? If the litter boxes existed and you think the adults would lie about their existence, the kids definitely wouldn't. My aunt is on the school board of a tiny district in rural WI. Her kids attend the same district. Every now and then, one of two of the nuttier residents of the town will confront my cousins to complain about all kinds of objectionable things my aunt is supposedly allowing - CRT in the classroom, porn in the library, litter boxes for trans kids and furries, etc. My cousins have gotten used to saying versions of "We're students at that school and none of that exists there or we would have found it and put pictures online."
This is like Lemonjello and Oranjello all over again. Every person who tells the story swears someone they know personally works at a school told them it was real.
Yeah, it reminds me of that urban legend as well
Or Le-A. Whenever someone tells me about Le-A. I always comment that it must be an incredibly common name because I have heard about her in all three states I've taught in.
My cousin had an Abcde this past year and a few years ago I can’t remember the name off the top of my head but they used that top keyboard row more than once.
I had a student named Abcde! They pronounced it Ab-si-dee
I also had an Abcde. Her grade was unfortunately toward the latter part of her name.
I'm still fucking SHOCKED by how many white people spread this along (in the internet era!!!) and didn't see is as blatant racism.
It's especially weird because there are actual weird names they could use. Someone made that up, attributed it to black people, and certain white people ate that shit up. Kinda wild
It's telling that the first time I heard about La-a was from Mind of Mencia in like 2008. As a racist little turd from a nowhere town with no actual minorities in it, I ate it up. But now I'm grown and yeah, clearly made up.
If you heard it from Mencia, who knows who he stole it from lol
I have truly seen a La-a. Birthday party at a place I worked at. We were all trying to figure out how to pronounce it at first.
Similar, my first year teaching, I had La-ea IN MY CLASS. You pronounce it Ladashia. She went by La La.
My favorite is La?us. Pronounced La’Questionmarkus.
Or JK_MN pronounced Noelle
I'm gonna be honest, I don't even know how this one is supposed to work. I know it's fake racist shit, but I can't help but only read "Just Kidding Minnesota".
There is no “L”. Just JK_MN, like when reciting the alphabet. Noelle
My coworker legitimately taught a kid who had the name ABCDE (pronounced ab-si-dee)
I saw that one in the news. I think. Stupid name.
I grew up in an upper middle class community and definitely heard that one… But, now I hear the kitty litter one from elementary school kids. The fact that any adult believes this is mortifying, especially a teacher.
Bus driver had a pail of kitty litter on the bus to absorb the mess when kids would throw up. 🤮 happened more than one would think.
Or Female (fe-molly)….everyone swears they know someone who knows someone with that name
You forgot their sister, Lingerie (Lingeree)!
I easily believe this one. I taught at a school with a Chardonnay and a Hennessy in the same grade.
My mom legitimately had a student named I'munique
Oh I've had some doozies too. Mistahmalik comes to mind... pronounced like Mr. Malik.
I had a Sir Jude.
I had a King David and a Sir Randolph.
I had a Daddy Yankee. We just called him Daddy.
I had a patient named Unique. Very sweet young lady, who chose to go by her middle name.
In 2005 I had a college roommate named Yanique and she was MEAN 😂
I have one and she is actually very unique and the sweetest little girl. One of the only studehts that volunteers to read out loud.
I substitute taught in Indiana a decade ago, permanent sub for the school. I’ve been teaching over 10 years in my own classroom now, but I will testify before Jesus himself and you right now that “Oranjello” was on my sub roster one day back around 2010. I asked another teacher how to pronounce it. I had never heard the rumor before, I’m not from a racist background at all and I had never heard it.
Lol Abcde is the one I always hear in the urban legends. I've met no less than 10 people who swear up and down that a friend of a friend taught an Abcde and that the mom was irate because the teacher asked how to pronounce it. If you truly and honestly had an Oranjello, I think that's neat as hell! When I was student teaching I became acquainted with a kid named Brushley...that name right there feels like child abuse.
Last year, in the US, there were 7 girls named Abcde. I looked it up out of curiosity.
They probably all named their kid Abcde because of this urban legend . Trolling at the expense of their kids :p
My school has buckets of litter, but it's for if students need to go to the bathroom during a lockdown. So maybe throw that back at them.
This is supposedly exactly where that rumor started from.
All our busses have litter to help clean up spills or puke, as well as emergency toilet. Such a versatile product.
I have litter and sawdust in my shop for spills as well. It’s a miraculous combination.
And for science spills
Yup! Those too! It’s a wonder for machine lubricant spills as well
Also useful in theatre tech/woodshop classes for safely disposing of paint!
Also helps with traction on ice etc
voban to the rescue.
It is. The litter box bucket thing started after two of the school shootings in Colorado.
Yes! This is true and entirely how you should frame this stupid nihilistic “caring” about kids using litter boxes. Yeah they have cat litter. But it’s because we allow the potential for our kids to get shot at school so that’s how they go to the bathroom during a lockdown.
Also traction in winter parking lots.
That, mixed with anti trans rhetoric. Saying that the kids will next identify as cats and pointing to the litter in classrooms as proof.
I not so nicely explain this is the real reason it’s used. Then stare blankly at them while I watch them squirm. Typically it shuts them up.
They also need a gentle reminder that the "identifies as cats" thing is lazy, politically motivated culture-war misdirection created to drown out that harrowing actual reason, and that they are being manipulated, and complicit in that manipulation by repeating it. It needs to be made clear (even if it falls on deaf ears...) that the source they """heard""" this from is malicious and sees them as nothing more than a gullible tool for spreading this disinformation without question. The problem with this approach is assuming the people listening to it are capable of shame.
The rumor has now changed to Furries and is all the literal rage among conservatives in Northern Colorado atm
It sucks up vomit extremely well. I’m sure the custodial staff values the stuff a lot.
If you really want to fuck with them, tell them the kitty litter is to help clean up the blood from school shootings instead. Just suplex the boomer back into reality.
It’s not really boomers vs younger generations so much as it is liberals vs conservatives. Or decent people vs hateful people if you like.
Very true, but every comment I've heard about the kitty litter for the furies has been from Boomers upset at the world for moving on from their 'values'.
Ok, but in my experience, it’s mostly younger Trump supporters who think gender fluidity is “woke” and push lies like “kids are identifying as cats and liberal schools allow it” in order to discredit the idea. These are the same people who boycotted Bud Light for supporting a trans woman. Hate has no age requirement.
America, where preventing uncomfortable urination during an active shooter is more important than preventing the active shooter
I have cat litter in my room, but it is for cleaning up chemical spills.
We needed that back in April. We were locked down for 5 hours. Several people reported using their trash cans. I was waiting for a student to ask and I was so glad I didn't have to face that.
I have said that to several brain dead members of my family, coworkers, and others. They don't want to believe that. They continue to cling to their anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric because they want to.
I just realized I keep litter in my room. It’s an engineering lab and it’s used for fluid cleanup- Am I a baddie?
This works. At thanksgiving there were a couple of cousins clucking their tongues at the “litter for kids who identify as cats” thing and when I explained to them what it was really for, they were properly chastened by the news.
A parent said something similar to my guidance counselor friend. She picked up the phone right in front of that parent, called the counselor at that school and asked if they had litter boxes for students in their school. The answer? No.
Fuck yeah, more of that please
You'd hope that this sort of straight forward, direct approach would be enough. I visited family recently and my sister's kids are getting pretty close to school age. I asked my sister if she had decided on a school yet for kindergarten. She tells me that "because of all the stuff going on in public schools" these days, she wont be enrolling her kids in public school. Me: "What do you mean, all the stuff going on". Sister: "You know, all the weird, transgender stuff they're teaching kids at such a young age. They don't need to hear about that!" Me: "Have you directly contacted the schools and asked them if they are teaching kids about being transgender in primary school?" Sister: "No, but I've heard about it and that's enough". The real fucking kicker? She's going to put them in a Catholic school, a catholic school! She's afraid of groomers and is putting her kids in a Catholic school. I had to force myself to keep my mouth shut, I still can't believe it.
>She's afraid of groomers and is putting her kids in a Catholic school. I’d sooner send my kids on a week-long unsupervised trip with a drag show than to church for an hour. At least with the drag show, they’ll be with people who will leave them alone in the bathroom.
As someone who is a big fan of Jesus and the Bible (but don’t like the term Christian because of what it has come to mean in the US), I wholeheartedly agree. I attended a Christian K12 as a kid, and while nothing traumatic happened to me, I’d never send my kids to one.
Tell them you prefer the crystal litter to clay and move on
I like the Slide litter, makes it easier to clean.
I prefer the litter robot but man, the full size ones take up so much space in my classroom/s
And ya know, once you get the full sized hamster wheel in there for those kids, there’s just not a lot of room.
I prefer pine pellets, because the smell is more pleasant as they break down and it’s so much cheaper.
It changes colors and the kids love it!! Lol
Pine litter is best
I started using crystal litter for my cats after my son’s cat rejected it after a visit home. So much nicer, lol. As to OP, no idea how true this is, but I heard the cat pans and liter were for extended emergency shelter in place for students who need to go. Sad that this is where we are but stock-bumps over education and student safety.
Give them the real reason. It’s kept on hand in case we have to shelter in the classroom from a gunman for hours on end while the police jerk each other off outside and taze parents. Kids might have to piss while stuck in a life or death situation. . . It takes a while for the gunman’s auto fire weapon to run out of bullets. That’ll shut them up.
There’s gotta be a word or phrase for a phenomenon where you create a terrible situation and then demonize the solutions/ outcomes. Like how Jews weren’t allowed to settle/ work with their hands and became bankers. Now they’re demonized for controlling money.
Yes! Whatever that thing is is what Drew Barrymore described in “Ever After” when she said to the prince, “What else is to be concluded, sir, but that you first make thieves and then punish them?”
Well,there you have it. Release him.
I SAID
"Assholes" might be the word you're looking for.
It’s this weird historical pattern. It appears in other places.
It escapes me, but i think there is a word (or words) for this. Blaming the victim is one, but I think there’s something more nuanced and precise.
Or how all the housing projects were for single women. So, predominantly black women claimed to be be single to get the housing. BOOM! The stereotype of the absent black father was born
“It’s also great for soaking up liquids like blood.”
Let's call it out. This is promoted by the MAGA crowd. They hate public education. They don't care about children who've been born. They don't care about the victims of gun violence. A few thousand dead children is fine as long as they can buy military-grade long guns in a tent at the state fair.
My actual strategy for this is, “oh yeah, I heard about that— there is apparently litter in classroom buckets for school shooting preparedness. for lockdowns. and that somehow turned into a silly rumor about ‘students who identify as cats’ but its actually for real school shooting situations, so.” I think acknowledging the truth in the situation and bringing up the reality of the situation is helpful when confronting stupid rumors and misinformation. Trying to stay calm and avoiding escalating is helpful to not play into the woke liberal caricature that some people think we are.
You're assuming the person understands concepts like "truth" and "reality".
Follow that up with "there are demonstrably more students dead by gun violence than students who identify as cats. What's your stance on reducing gun violence in the US?"
This rumor made its way through my district, except my school was the one targeted! The Facebook parents were going nuts and my principal went to all of our rooms to do inspections to see if we had litter boxes (I wish I was joking but that’s how she operates). This group of parents eventually went to the school board and our superintendent completely shut their BS down. The really ironic part is that a lot of those parents didn’t even have kids at my school.
I think of lot of the members of those “parents” groups don’t even have kids. They’re just political actors.
Wonder if that's why they accuse kids of being crisis actors.
Wait so these people were just doing this shit for *fun?* Holy crap they need real hobbies. Family that loves them. SOMETHING.
Therapy would be nice
All 5 people who have submitted requests for over two-thousand books to be removed from my district don't have kids in our district. 3/5 don't live here.
No amount of debunking will work. Probably best if we start asking the people who bring it up if they feel left out and want one lol
These rumors stem from motivated reasoning. People really *want* to believe that schools are so bad teachers are providing litter boxes, so they pass the rumor along because it feels good to do so. Debunking involves feelings that aren't positive, so it's less likely to succeed. Motivated reasoning is becoming the dominant force in contemporary politics.
> that schools are so bad Of course, the quiet part (that SOME of them will say out loud) is that "bad" means accepting queer people. The litter box thing is transphobic, meant to draw an unfavorable comparison to kids that want to use the ""wrong"" bathroom. That it also gets to make fun of furries (another favorite punching bag) while denegrating the school system as a whole is icing on the cake, for these people.
I’ll just let my students outside to do their Business. I hate cleaning litter boxes
This is a common mistake. Students are an invasive species and can devastate local bird populations. They should never be let outside unsupervised.
Well that explains the shorter recesses. I say let them out. there are far too many birds on campus anyway. Evidently we just need to get some bigger birds to devastate the student population. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
Oh shit, is that where way too many colleges came up with the idea of just letting geese roam free on campus?
That’s exactly why. The older the student the bigger and angrier the bird needed.
Yeah our high school has decided to bring in cassowaries. We rationed out sticks for the students with important parents and the stupid poors get cat litter, it comes full circle!
“If your lunch bill isn’t paid by the end of the month you will be lunch for the cassowaries instead.” I’m dead
I would respond “are you lying on purpose or did you actually believe that when someone told you?” And then if they really believe it I would respond “ok” but in a “bless your heart” kind of tone and not talk to them anymore.
I tell them the truth. We don't have litter boxes but we do have litter in every classroom. The reason why is so when we are in a real lock down with a shooter, having litter helps contain bodily fluids and their smell, which could alert a shooter that there is someone in the classroom. This usually gets them to shut the hell up
Custodian here...uhhh,no. What tf is this?
Yeah, I know it's not true, YOU know it's not true, and yet the urban legend persists.
Ridiculous...💯
It's not an urban legend. It's anti-transgender propaganda.
I've had kids ask me and I tell them "if they didn't, wouldn't there be actual photos all over social media? Cause I know how yall are"
This is an anti-trans conspiracy theory. Wikipedia has a huge page about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litter_boxes_in_schools_hoax And Snopes debunked it: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/litter-boxes-bathrooms/ The reality is that a small number of schools have started storing kitty litter in teachers’ closets for emergency use during a school shooting lockdown, for example if a child needs to pee but it is not safe to go into the hallway. It started at the school district where the first famous school shooting took place, Columbine, CO, in 1999. https://time.com/5658266/colorado-district-kitty-litter-buckets-lockdowns/ Isn’t it interesting the political spin on the reality vs the conspiracy theory? 🤔
Janitors also use litter to clean up spills.
I remember being really confused the first time I saw a pile of cat litter on the ground at six flags as a little kid. But no one else was saying anything about it and I didn't want to look stupid by asking. The next time I went back a few years later I realized it was puke clean up.
Thank you for doing the work and linking it. If I didn't see a post that did, I was going to have to do it myself. A councilor in my building actually said this to me and when I told her, she insisted. If this crap has convinced people in our own buildings, it has gone too far. I do work in the reddest of red states though.
If someone asks I tell em, “Skibbity litter box rizz, bruh”
Sigma move.
Schools can't provide students with pencils or tissues. Why would they spend money on litter boxes?
Tell them they’re a goddamned liar or a fucking fool if they fell for that shit. My cousin is no longer speaking to me.
I offered to pay someone $100 cash with first hand (see with their own eyes) irrefutable proof. Of course they never found it.
“Really? *Our* school has boxes for teachers who actually fall for idiotic internet hoaxes!”
That's even meaner than what I might have done, which would be to reply that our school also has litter boxes in every student bathroom then take them to show them, and when there isn't one, ask if they really believe everything anyone tells them without thinking about whether it makes any sense.
Oh, yeah of course! Trans kids are being targeted and harassed everywhere, but there are schools brining in litter boxes for kids with no problem and no media coverage. …
I just always tell them that I have some beachfront property in Kansas I’d like to sell them
I read an article about this where the journalist actually did some investigating to try find a true example of it. They took 3 approaches. 1. Tried to track down a source, but everything was "yeah I heard from a friend, whose sister heard it from a cousin who is totally a teacher" or some variation. 2. Asked a bunch of schools, any that had kitty litter, it was in case of lock downs. 3. Asked a bunch of furries who all said "yeah duh, we know we're not animals, we use actual toilets. But also if we did start identifying as our fursonas, the vast majority of us are wild animals, so yeah we'll just piss outside, not in litter boxes."
Red flag, that person was testing the waters to see if you were as bigoted as they are.
I hear this a lot and so I start going into the logistics of such an absurd idea. Let’s say each school has 3 bathrooms (3 girls, 3 boys) and each one has one litter box. Each box needs to get changed every 2 hours, so 3 times a day. That’s 18 changes per day. Each box takes 2lbs of litter each change at 36lbs per day. My school year is 175ish days. That comes up to 3600lbs of litter per year. Now, there are about 25 buildings in my district. That comes up to 157,500lbs of kitty litter per year. If a school district like mine needs this amount of kitty litter, where exactly are they storing it? And here’s the best part…I’m in public education. That means budgets a readily available. If a pound of litter is $0.50, please show me on the publicly available, board approved yearly budget where EXACTLY it says $79k per year for cat litter. [Or maybe…](https://imgflip.com/i/3uzlqq)
the thing is these people are just stupid. a lot of people are very, very dumb. now, this isn't a moral failing on their part. stupid people do a lot of hard work on this country and they deserve good lives just as much as anyone else. none of this changes the fact that they are dumb.
After telling them why the litter boxes are really there (school attack), remind them that kids take and post pictures of literally everything and then date them to find an actual photo of anyone using a letterbox on the internet.
"If you can provide a single school's name that does this, we can call them together, and if it's verified by someone in the office, I will eat my shoe."
It's always in the next district over. It's a real district. You don't know it. It's from Canada and goes to another school.
This is some bullshit right wing rage bait. I'm a teacher in a progressive area and this is exactly the kind of anti education propaganda ment to chip away at the integrity of teachers and the public education system. Sadly and unsurprisingly its working and being eaten up by a certain demographic of dumbasses
Tell them to stop consuming right-wing bullshit.
"Hey, just so you don't end up looking like a conspiracy weirdo who spreads false rumors - as in, we can call \[school\] right now, and I assure you they'll give you the facts - you should know that schools that keep 'cat litter' on hand actually have it for emergency purposes, like students not being able to use the bathroom during an active-shooter lockdown. There are people who have chosen to twist that into a way to make it seem like some schools are too accommodating of students identities, so ultimately it's anti-trans misinformation, and if you're hearing that from someone, you should vet the things they say before you repeat them to others and end up sounding ignorant or even hateful."
"That's a lie. The litter is for kids to have a place to pee when they're locked in their rooms for five hours because there's a shooter in the building and the police won't leave the parking lot. Stop watching Fox News."
Transphobic rhetoric. Anyone spreading that nonsense should be held accountable.
Bigots will believe anything to reinforce/justify their blind hatred.
My moron of a special Ed director believed this.
I hear this from lead brained Boomers all the time.
Yeeaahh, no. No they don’t. Someone’s been drowning themselves in the conspiracy Kool-Aid and watching too much Fox Newts
This story goes around every other day. Realistically if this was happening there would be a ton of pictures. It’s 2024, my 2nd graders have phones. You’re telling me that kids are shitting in litter boxes and there isn’t a single photo? Be fucking forreal.
Tell them to stop listening to Joe Rogan. He's barely a comedian, much less someone who actually gives correct info. Anyone who listens to him should not be in a school setting, but that's just my opinion.
I’ve shared this on here before, but I had a random man with no relationship to the school system inform me that it’s such a shame we aren’t allowed to have an American flag in the classroom anymore. People just make this shit up and post it on the internet, or say it on their podcast or on Fox News or something, and the people who want to believe it eat it up.
I’m in Alberta, Canada, and the urban legend has reached here! My husband was adamant that it was true because one of his coworker’s friend’s kids got expelled for “meowing” at someone who identified as a cat. 🤦♀️ As someone who had a student literally name and threaten to shoot another student in the middle of a packed classroom, I can tell you personally that expelling doesn’t happen like that.
I work in Edmonton schools. When I visit my rural relatives I'm asked if I'm on litter box duty. It's frustrating how gullible people are. Expelling students is next to impossible. They pretty much have to bring a weapon to school and threaten someone. Even then there's a hearing
It's a lie. It didn't happen. Stop spreading the lie.
My mother in law constantly posts on facebook how certain things should be at school. I will reply we still do that daily. Or I will let her know not once have I seen that in a school I have been in in the 3 states we have been in. Nope, she chooses the negative and believes the junk. UGH
I have relatives that are convinced we no longer teach kids to tell time. I sent them the link to Standard 2.MD.C.7 - "Tell and write time from analog and digital clocks to the nearest five minutes, using a.m. and p.m." as proof that we do, in fact, teach kids to tell time in 2024. However, because it was Common Core they went down some new conspiracy rabbit hole. Edit: Fixed Typo
"I cannot believe that a smart person like you would ever believe something so obviously false!".
This isn’t true. It’s a stupid conservative story to exaggerate the implications of people who identify as a different gender.
>How do we combat this ridiculous rumor? Easy. You say, "*No*, the litterboxes are for when we have Lockdowns because of America's insane gun laws. We get locked in our rooms and the kids (or I!) need somewhere to go potty. I hate the NRA."
Districts by large quantities of kitty litter to put in buckets so students can go to the bathroom when in lockdowns because politicians refuse to do anything about school shooting other than offer thoughts and prayers.
Ask them to see the picture Because nobody who saw that wouldn't take a picture There will be an excuse (no phones allowed, etc) and then go "well I get your a good person/ your kid is / etc, but someone took a photo and put it on snap! They had to. Someone took a photo. Let me see it"
That’s what we get for entertaining and even nurturing the idea that our beliefs make things true objectively.
I used to see many kids walking around with cat ears and tail. One would only meow until she failed her classes... but never saw a litter box.
One of the things I ask folks who mention this is whether or not they've seen any video evidence. I point out that at my high school, everything gets caught by students on video for Snapchat or IG or TikTok, so if they haven't seen actual video, it's not happening. We literally find out about fights as they are happening because of Snapchat. These kids are absolutely going to video a cat box in the bathroom if they see one.
“Oh I didn’t know you believe in conspiracy theories—“ with a :/ expression usually knocks a few of them down. The ones who lean into it further aren’t worth talking to anymore.
Yeah. We have a student who identifies as a Holstein heifer. The school district had to purchase five acres next to the school for her to graze and use the restroom. We had to take the homes through eminent domain.
Urgh. This is complete media moral panic nonsense. There's a documentary podcast episode of Things Fall Apart by Jon Ronson where he explores the truth of this. Basically 1) it's BS, and the rumour came from one school where the teacher said it as a joke. People thought he was being serious. 2) lots of schools in the US do have buckets of cat litter in classrooms, but this is only in case they have to be used by (human-identifying) students/staff who are stuck in the classroom because of school shootings. That's literally the whole story.
"that's a hilariously stupid thing to say and you should be embarrassed to say it."
I can't find the link now, but there was a tiktok video featuring a teacher. He pointed out that every kid in every school across America has a freaking cell phone. There is nothing that a child can do, in any school across America, that wouldn't be known about by the entire building (possibly the town) within 20 minutes. There would be photographic evidence, or videos and they would be spread around instantaneously. There would be hundreds of thousands of Snapchats and Tiktoks of the litter boxes if they were actually real. The fucking far right is shitposting conspiracies to dehumanize anyone not a straight, white, evangelical protestant male and this is one of them. Unfortunately, there is absolutely nothing we can do that will deprogram that hateful cult. The good thing is that when I hear that come out of someone's mouth, I know immediately that they are utterly stupid.
One of the Moms For Liberty whackjobs in Round Rock (Texas) started pushing that. She's now running for the position of the Williamson County GOP party chair. People took her campaign posters and started Photoshopping them as a result. They shopped a [furry in with a litterbox thanking her in one,](https://i.imgur.com/Zngj6KK.jpg) then added rainbow furry tails and ears to her with a trans pride flag in another, since she's also a very outspoken and vicious transphobe. She _hates_ them, needless to say. Oopsie-doodle.
This rumor is transphobic
Our superintendent had to write a letter to address the fact that we don't have litter boxes at our school. We have almost 80K students and over 100 schools. I'm sure he has better things to do than write a letter for gullible conspiracy theory people.
no-one can ever name the school
Omg please LET THIS DIE! IT IS FAKE, and so stupid. We wouldnt give out litter boxes, we utilize our bottomless budgets to provide each student with a robotic self cleaning litter container
The carpet in my room doesn’t always get vacuumed and we’re always short a custodian. Who do they think are emptying these litter boxes out?
I have worked in many a district. The janitor has more power than most teachers, and there is no fucking way a janitor is cleaning a litter pan.
I immediately ask for the name of the district so I can verify with the superintendent. Not one person has named a school district when asked.
We can barely get the custodians to sweep our rooms let alone clean out an human sized litter box. It is a shame that a fellow educator can be so easily duped.
I found the guy that subscribes to Info Wars.
The cat litter thing has been going around for years, it’s just rage bait the crazies make up.
This is fake. Stop spreading it around
This is a rumor started by transphobics that has since snowballed almost as badly as Richard Gere and the gerbils 😂
If an actual teacher told you this, and neither you nor they are trolling, that teacher is a fucking idiot and should be trusted with neither children nor sharp objects.
The litter box hoax actually has its own [Wikipedia article](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litter_boxes_in_schools_hoax) now.
Be sure to let them know the buckets of litter are actually to soak up the blood and vomit while we do trauma care on any survivors or to serve as emergency toilets during extended lock downs.
As long as right wing media continues to say this bullshit, morons will continue to believe this bullshit.
You combat it by voting Democrat.
Meow at them.
You combat this by looking them straight in their eyes and saying that it is nonsense and if they believe it they should change careers as they clearly don’t have the critical thinking skills our students deserve.
I and many others have noticed a an uptick in conservative attacks both unfounded and true against education and this is definitely part of that. There’s a great former teacher who makes YouTube videos now focusing on politics and pedagogy, Zoe Bee. I found [this](https://youtu.be/bo0M3H1QsEQ?si=_V7IpK2vo_7UcY06) video a while ago to be very informative on the matter
It's the Marilyn Manson rib rumour again.
"How do we combat this ridiculous rumor?" You have to find the pizza parlor where Hillary Clinton was running a child-sex-slave operation in it's basement; the whole nerve center of this is down there!
Please, school will not even pay for paper towels. The fact people think they will purchase expensive litter. If this were true, every student in the building would be posting pictures of the litter box.
I always say, if that were true it would be an OSHA violation. Complete biological hazard. They are not going to have open human feces and urine in a box. So, get in contact with OSHA and report it and it will be solved relatively instantly. Oh, you don't know where it happened but it did according to so and so? Have them contact OSHA. It's a non problem because you can personally solve it if it was
My mom told me about this and I just responded "you really believe that?" After properly considering it, she did decide it sounded ridiculous, rightfully. Some people just can't help but spread any information they hear no matter how stupid it sounds. We need to teach people to think critically rather than just letting them regurgitate anything and everything they read or hear.
Even the person who made this up openly said it was a joke or a crazy what-if idea it’s embarrassing that it was ever circulated with any seriousness
lol- I thought we had gotten over this stupid urban legend? is it back now? people are so odd- the lack of common sense is scary.
So I work in what might be the only city that does actually kitty litter in classrooms in the whole world. Not all classrooms, but definitely some. Christchurch NZ. After a couple natural disasters and a major terror attack that resulted in schools being locked down for 5 hours it’s now a thing where some of us do keep litter, a bucket, and toilet paper in our classrooms. It all seems a bit silly until hour two of a lockdown when a kid desperately needs the toilet and the only option is the bin (yep that did happen).
You tell them that it started because classes have buckets of kitty litter in them next to the tourniquets they have for the event of a mass shooting where they’ll have to wait in silence for hours until they can reunite with their family. Thankfully bump stocks are back baby!!!!!!!