First graders will misbehave — it’s inevitable. They’re only 6 or 7 years old, after all.
So, parents of a first-grade class at Bartlett Elementary School in Conroe, Texas, were understandably enraged after learning what their children’s teacher did as punishment for acting out during class.
Parent Amber Johnson shared a post on Facebook describing the incident, including a screenshot of the message parents received from the elementary school teacher, Ms. Barrera.
“Hello parents,” the teacher’s message began. “I want to inform you about an incident that happened today. Today my class lost their privilege to use the restroom during class because they lost their restroom badge being in the hallway.”
“Unfortunately, we had some friends who really needed to use the restroom and ended up peeing on themselves,” Ms. Barrera continued. “I do want to apologize for that incident. I had (a) talk with the students about how important it is to use our thing(s) appropriately, but please have a talk with them about that as well.”
While the bathroom privileges were taken away at 3 p.m., Johnson claimed that parents were not notified until just 2 minutes before dismissal.
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Johnson’s daughter told NBC affiliate KPRC 2 that students “asked to go to the bathroom probably like ten times” and “were crying to death” because they needed to relieve themselves.
“These kids are traumatized and humiliated,” Johnson told ABC13. “They were made fun of. They were crying, begging, pleading, and asking multiple times to go to the restroom, and they were refused.”
According to parent accounts, six students soiled themselves during class. These kids were forced to sit in wet, dirty clothes for the remainder of the school day.
“If I sent my child to this school smelling like that, they would call CPS and have me investigated and try to have my child taken away from me,” Joseph McCauley, a father of one of the students, said. “So, how is it OK for my child to go to school clean, prepared, and come home smelling like that?'”
“I’ve already told (my daughter) that if a teacher tells her, ‘You can’t go,’ and it’s an emergency, you walk out of class, you go straight to the restroom,” he continued. He then instructed his daughter to “tell the principal that they refused to let you go to the restroom and you need to call my dad now.”
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The Conroe Independent School District sent a message to parents claiming that the punishment was “not indicative of the safe and loving environment we foster at Bartlett Elementary.” In their statement, they informed parents that the teacher “is no longer employed” with the district.
“This afternoon, we were made aware of a situation in a first-grade classroom in which restroom privileges were revoked. I have spoken with the parents of both students who, upsettingly, had accidents,” the administration wrote in the letter, which was obtained by KPRC. “The class will have a current staff member to serve as the substitute teacher for the remainder of the week while we complete our investigation into the matter.”
No excuse under the sun could justify an elementary school teacher forbidding young kids to go to the bathroom.
It’s inhumane and downright negligent to deny a child their basic right to use the restroom when the need arises. Despite this teacher’s actions, it’s certainly not a “privilege” that should be taken away as punishment.
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Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.
