We trust the teachers and staff at our local schools to treat our children like we treat our own. These children have enough difficulties in life, that the school staff should never be a problem for our children. Of course, accidents happen but one elementary school appears to be doing unusual things to children as you will see in this story.
A Washington state mother was eagerly waiting for her son at the school bus stop. She always waited for him for every afternoon so they could walk back to their home and discuss what he learned at school and how the day went for him. This daily ritual kept the two close. The bus pulled up and the students quickly emptied out of the bus. Towards the back of the children filtering out was her son. She knew something wasn’t right. Then she got a good look at her son and saw that his face was covered in tears. When he saw her, he immediately rushed up to her, that’s when she saw why he was crying. He wasn’t wearing any pants!
The mother, who wished to remain anonymous, needed to know what happened. Where were her son’s pants? Why did the school send him home like this. She asked her son what had happened but then she noticed what he was wearing. It was a diaper. Her son’s school, Mint Valley Elementary, had sent her son home in a diaper. Unfortunately, her son was so sad that he could barely muster a word.
The mother took her son home and immediately called the school. The school administration desperately tried to avoid answering the mother, but she wasn’t going to let it go. This isn’t the first time the elementary school has been caught doing questionable things to the students under their care. The constant dodging by the school only made the mother more concerned.
Her son has a learning disability and is a foster child, which has caused the bullies to target him relentlessly. His mother knew this incident would only make the bullying even worse. The school needed a very good reason for her son walking around in front of his fellow classmates and even bullies in a sagging diaper. Even if an accident had happened, why wasn’t she contacted beforehand? The school continued to dodge the questions the increasingly frustrated mother asked.
Finally, after the mother persisted that the school give her an answer, the school finally told the mother why her son had been sent home like this. He had an accident in the classroom and wet himself. Instead of the school offering him a change of underwear or even contacting her to bring in a new set of clothing, the school decided they would remove his pants and put on a diaper and no pants.
Not only was her son terrified after wetting himself in front of his classmates, but the school had forced him to walk in front of his classmates in a diaper. It’s a story that proves that fact is truly stranger than fiction.
Of course, like any parent, the mother wasn’t any happier with the truth. She continued to go up the ranks of the school district demanding that this be looked into. If the school felt it was okay to do things like this, what else were they doing? The school still had a poor reputation among parents for its mistreatment of children with special needs and this incident shows that they haven’t changed at all.
Back in 2012, the school made headlines when it was found out that the elementary school had been placing children with special needs inside of a small room, no bigger than a closet to isolate them. The school claimed that the room was used to prevent children from harming themselves or others and also as a refuge for children with autism if they were experiencing too much sensory stimulation. However, parents of children were concerned that the box may actually have been used as a punishment rather than as a tool to help children. The school later removed the room.
After the story spread among parents of children that go to the school the Longview Public School system, which Mint Valley Elementary is a part of, was forced to make a statement addressing the concerns around this story. Sandy Catt, a spokesperson for the school district put out a public statement.
Typical protocol would be that the child would be cleaned up and outfitted with some sort of unisex loaner sweats or something like that. That protocol was not followed, and from a district level we have investigated that.
The answer provides hope, however the school district has yet to reveal any findings thanks to the investigation. It should be noted that the school has a policy that requires every student have a spare set of clothes at the school in case of such an emergency. Why the student was forced to wear the diaper instead is a mystery.
What do you think of this story? Do you think something else happened to this child? What would you do if this was your child? Let us know down below!
