A teacher has gone viral after sharing the harrowing reality of why he keeps a ‘poop bucket’ inside his classroom.
The California-based educator, who is known as Larry Lexicon on TikTok, reposted a video of him explaining what the bucket was for, just days after the tragic Nashville school shooting that killed six people, including three children.
Larry’s video has been viewed more than 8.7 million at the time of writing.
‘It turns out people really don’t know why we have these buckets in the classroom, it’s because of school shootings,’ he tells his students.
A California-based teacher known as Larry Lexicon has gone viral after sharing the harrowing reality of why he keeps a ‘poop bucket’ inside his classroom
‘I hate to just say it bluntly like that, but when I first started teaching we didn’t have these buckets in the classroom.
‘Now every classroom has a bucket like this in there because we go into lockdown, and we’re locked in our classrooms for extended periods of times while the situation is dealt with.’
Larry then starts to pull out a number of items from the bucket before dumping the entire contents on the desks in front of him, including toilet paper, describing it as a ‘survival kit.’
He initially posted an extended version of the video back in February, which was in response to complaints he received over another TikTok clip that was meant to be a joke, but some took seriously.
‘These people on TikTok complaining about the bucket, how many of them do you think go to work everyday and have to worry about maybe pooping in a bucket because there’s a shooter at work,’ Larry, who is originally from Canada, continues.
‘Not very many’ was one of the replies from his students.
‘But you do,’ the teacher added, ‘Everybody in this classroom does, I do, that’s the reality of school in America right?’
Larry then turns his attention to an orange backpack, pulling out a packaged blanket.
His video, which has been viewed more than 8.7 million at the time of writing, explains what the bucket is for to TikTok users and his students
He dumps the contents of the bucket onto some desks in front of him (left) before holding up a blanket (right), that he later reveals is used for covering up dead bodies
Larry has won over more than 1.4 million followers on TikTok with his hilarious content
‘What do you think they’re for?’ he asked.
After a couple of guesses from his class, Larry reveals the grim use for the item he was holding up.
‘These are so I can cover up bodies if I need to, so you don’t have to see them,’ Larry said.
‘If I have to do that it’s probably going to be somebody I care about, somebody you care about.
‘So people being upset about our bucket video, they’re upset about the wrong thing.
‘They should be upset that these buckets exist. That we’re at the point where we need these buckets.’
Larry added people needed to make sure they were expending their energy on ‘being upset about the right things.’
So far in 2023, there have been 13 school shootings with injuries or deaths, according to Education Week.
Last year there were 51 school shootings where at least one person was killed or injured, and the year before there were 35.
In 2020, another California teacher, Thomas Smith, wrote in the Los Angeles Times about the arrival of the ‘poop bucket’ at their classroom.
‘California is one of many states where school district officials are placing portable toilets in classrooms to be used during lengthy lockdowns due to active shooters,’ the secondary public school educator wrote.
The educator’s frank discussion with his students has sparked tens of thousands of comments on his TikTok video
Larry’s video has so far sparked more than 33,000 comments with people praising him for being upfront with his students.
‘Love the transparency with the students. The yellow bucket and body blankets are a sad reality,’ one person wrote.
‘I’m not mad about the bucket. I’m sad there’s a need for it,’ another added.
‘I’ve never seen the bucket video, but it’s so messed up that this is how the situation is managed. Buckets instead of gun control,’ a third person said.
Someone else added: ‘My nephew’s class has a bucket too. No one deserves this. No child.’
‘It’s so sad that these are even remotely needed, it breaks my heart,’ another comment read.
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