Crappy Day At School

WASHBURN, Mo. -- A mother is upset over over a classroom incident that left her kindergartner embarrassed.   A 6-year-old girl had an accident in her classroom, and her parents are pushing for policy changes.

"They told me that the teacher had asked her to go to the restroom before testing time," said mother Lisa Skidmore.

Skidmore says asking a young child to go to the bathroom on demand is next to impossible.

"You can't do that to a 6-year-old."

That's why, when her kindergartner told her teacher she had to go to the restroom during the test and wasn't allowed, Skidmore couldn't believe it.  Her little girl couldn't hold it.

It wasn't even a real test, it was a practice.  In order to prepare this poor child for the real thing, the teacher declined to let her use the restroom.  Un-freaking-believable.

I don't want to heap any more shame on this poor child and her family, but I want to emphasize a few things.  When she did have the accident, they still didn't do anything about it.  They gave her a trash bag to keep from making an even bigger mess.  I don't care what pop psychology says, that's the sort of thing that is humiliating for the rest of one's life, but especially right now.

How does a person in elementary education not understand that a six-year-old's control is limited, as is their ability to gauge when they will need to use the restroom?  Imagine how hard she must have tried to put it off and avoid the inevitable disaster.

There is also the health concern of sitting in feces for the better part of an hour.  I won't go too deeply into that, but it's valid and could lead to painful repercussions for her.

I'm so angry.  Normally I'm not one to call for someone to lose their job, but the teacher who said no should be gone, and never be responsible for a child again.  Anyone with such a gross misunderstanding of where priorities lie simply cannot be trusted with children.

This story has gotten national attention, but a shout out to KY-3, one of the last stations that gives a damn about reporting news, for bringing this out.