Teacher dismissed for soiled underwear incident

Published

Hi all,

Headline news this morning here in IL states that a special ed teacher was fired for the following: Teacher of 6 special ed elementary students found BM on classroom floor. He couldn't determine where it had come from so he had each student enter private stall in bathroom (alone) and then hand out their underwear so he could see it. The students did this one at a time and he did not enter bathroom stall at any time. So, he was canned for this by his school after a parent complaint evidently. I don't know about any of my fellow school nurses out there, but this story makes me more than a little nervous. How many times do any of you clean up a student if parent can't be reached or just check out the underwear if teacher sends them down because of a suspicious smell? Many elementary students, especially those with communication issues or other special needs, won't communicate to the teacher or nurse when this happpens, and many times parents cannot be reached. Thanks for your input!

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Specializes in School Nursing.

I never remove clothing or check underwear (except for the students I cath and that is with Dr. orders and parent permission), and I would not have agreed to do what this teacher did. Not trying to condemn the teacher or anything, as I can understand why he did it, I just would not do it. If a teacher sends a student down for an odor, and there is no sign of soiling from the outside of the clothing, I will just call the parents and let them know what we observed. Most of our youngest Special Ed students are toileted by staff anyway, so it isn't an issue with them.

It is sad that it has come to this, but I feel like in this society I have to avoid any action that might even give the slightest hint of impropriety.

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

Link to story:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IL_SOILED_UNDERWEAR_TEACHER_OUSTED_ILOL-?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

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I NEVER check underwear, etc, for that specific reason. Too easy for it to blow way out of proportion! BTW, not sure why the teacher did this.... what was he looking for?????? Was he looking to punish the offender? Too late, the deed was already done, in my opinion. :rolleyes:

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

having worked in special ed, i can tell you that in my former school toileting, showering, etc were just ADLs that were handled by staff. If there was a student in need of changing, the teacher would take the student to the bathroom and assist as appropriate in changing clothing and cleaning up. This may account for why the teacher was in search of the student with the soiled clothing. Granted, this was a private school for severely handicapped children - so the rules were a little different across the board...

Personally, I never get involved with anything that involves dealing with nudity or underwear unless absolutely necessary and even then it is with another adult in the room that is the same gender as the student.

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So let me make sure I understand, if any of you have a first grader, for example, who wets or soils in their clothing and you cannot reach a parent, you would not clean that child up and help them into clean clothing? The reason I ask is I work in a district that is 93% free and reduced lunch, with a ton of single parents and parents in jail, etc, and it is quite common that a nurse cannot reach anyone for hours when there is an incident. We keep a good deal of donated clothing, including packs of new underwear, on hand for this reason. I always try to reach a parent or relative first, but frequently can not. Also, if I sent every student home that a teacher sends down with a suspicious odor, there would be a real attendence problem at the school. Pre K aides in our building are always tolieting and changing clothes on kids in Pre K rooms. I guess there is no easy answer on how to handle these situations; it just really helps to hear alll your thoughts and suggestions. We walk such a tightrope in our profession. Thanks!

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Specializes in School Nursing.

My school is 98% free lunch, and I do have trouble contacting parents on a regular basis. For a 1st grader who I couldn't reach the parent, I would hand them the clean clothes and underwear, some baby wipes, and a bag for soiled clothes and direct them to the bathroom. There is no way I would assist a 6-7 year old with routine toileting. And if it was my 6-7 year old, I don't thing I would want the nurse toileting them, either.

Also wanted to clarify that I do not send children home for odor without evidence of soiling. I call the parents to make them aware of it. Sometimes they will bring a fresh set of clothing, sometimes not. Either way the student returns to class. But if the parents come and elect to bring the student home, it is not an excused absence (unless that parent checks and there was soiling from feces, in which case our policy is that the student goes home to clean up.)

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So let me make sure I understand, if any of you have a first grader, for example, who wets or soils in their clothing and you cannot reach a parent, you would not clean that child up and help them into clean clothing? The reason I ask is I work in a district that is 93% free and reduced lunch, with a ton of single parents and parents in jail, etc, and it is quite common that a nurse cannot reach anyone for hours when there is an incident. We keep a good deal of donated clothing, including packs of new underwear, on hand for this reason. I always try to reach a parent or relative first, but frequently can not. Also, if I sent every student home that a teacher sends down with a suspicious odor, there would be a real attendence problem at the school. Pre K aides in our building are always tolieting and changing clothes on kids in Pre K rooms. I guess there is no easy answer on how to handle these situations; it just really helps to hear alll your thoughts and suggestions. We walk such a tightrope in our profession. Thanks!

I worked as a school nurse at an elementary school for one year. 100% of the students were poverty level and all of the students lived in 1 of 2 section 8 apartment complexes next to the school. I dealt with students who soiled themselves on a daily basis. I encouraged the teachers to ask parents to bring spare clothing. Most students never did though. I had a small collection of clothes. If I could not reach the parents or any emergency contacts, I would give the student some clothes and baby wipes and tell them to clean themselves up in the bathroom ALONE. I would have been fired if I assisted a student with this task. Sure a Pre K student probably struggled with this task, but as a RN in our school district, we were not allowed to assist. And furthermore, it is my job to worry about the health of students, not with toileting. If they aren't special needs (which we did not have a special needs program at our school) it is not my job. Even if we did have a special needs class, there would have been aides who were designated for toileting issues. The parents need to potty train their children before sending them to school.

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

I have, in my public school career, helped a child that soiled him/herself to a point where it was too much for them to clean up alone. Like I said earlier - when it's necessary for me to interact with a child with a need to undress I always pull in a staff member of the same gender as the child into the room.

When I was in the K only school this came up a few times over the years. back then i had a closet full of loaner clothes - if the child could manage sent into bathroom with change of clothes and a bag for the dirties. Most could handle making a simple change - it's when they have a messy bm that it gets more complex.

As far as assessing genital injuries - again - only if necessary and with another adult in the room.

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So let me make sure I understand, if any of you have a first grader, for example, who wets or soils in their clothing and you cannot reach a parent, you would not clean that child up and help them into clean clothing? The reason I ask is I work in a district that is 93% free and reduced lunch, with a ton of single parents and parents in jail, etc, and it is quite common that a nurse cannot reach anyone for hours when there is an incident. We keep a good deal of donated clothing, including packs of new underwear, on hand for this reason. I always try to reach a parent or relative first, but frequently can not. Also, if I sent every student home that a teacher sends down with a suspicious odor, there would be a real attendence problem at the school. Pre K aides in our building are always tolieting and changing clothes on kids in Pre K rooms. I guess there is no easy answer on how to handle these situations; it just really helps to hear alll your thoughts and suggestions. We walk such a tightrope in our profession. Thanks!

I would hand the child a clean pair of clothing and direct them to the bathroom to change themselves. If its a special needs student, they handle changing the student. I did have a case where the child had poop all over, and I was able to get Mom to come bring clean clothes and change him. She didn't mind. If I couldn't reach her, my next step was to give them the clean clothes, have them clean themselves up as best they could. I did have one case where we couldn't reach parent, so I had the secretary come in to the bathroom with me for clean-up. (She was grossed out - sheesh!!)

If I have to take a child into the bathroom for something (and I very rarely, on purpose, do not), I always have another adult with me. The instance I am thinking of involved a suspected case of abuse, and I had to look on their upper thigh.

Another nurse in our district was accused of an impropriety regarding a student. She was cleared, but not after a whole lot of heartache and distress. She left the job after that.....

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Specializes in School Nursing.
The instance I am thinking of involved a suspected case of abuse, and I had to look on their upper thigh.

I have a trick for that! I keep a pair of very baggy shorts in my closet, with a drawstring waist that can be cinched. If I need to examine the upper leg and the child has on pants, I have them change into the shorts, then they can easily pull the baggy shorts up high enough that I can see what I need to, but theit groin is fully covered. I have had a couple instances where a child c/o an injury to the groin and I simply call the parent and ask them to come to school to examine it and/or take the student to the doctor. Once the parent is there, if they want me to examine it in their presence I am happy to.

Maybe I am overly cautious, but I have seen a principal falsely accused and I was named as a witness, even though there was nothing to witness. At the time the investigation was done, no one knew who the target was so I thought it could have been me. The parent who made the complaint saw me exit the bathroom with one of the students who I cath twice a day, so it was reasonable for me to think the complaint may have involved me. I was a wreck for quite some time, and ultimately it came out the the principal was the accused and not myself, and she was cleared, but not without a great deal of inner turmoil. I will never put myself in the situation to be accused of something like that. Once you have been through that, it changes your perspective.

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I have a trick for that! I keep a pair of very baggy shorts in my closet, with a drawstring waist that can be cinched. If I need to examine the upper leg and the child has on pants, I have them change into the shorts, then they can easily pull the baggy shorts up high enough that I can see what I need to, but theit groin is fully covered. I have had a couple instances where a child c/o an injury to the groin and I simply call the parent and ask them to come to school to examine it and/or take the student to the doctor. Once the parent is there, if they want me to examine it in their presence I am happy to.

That is a wonderful idea. I have asked them to go to the restroom and assess themselves so to speak and report to me if the area was bruised, etc. if they were say hit with a basketball to the upper leg but that would never work in a suspected child abuse case and even if it's just a bump on the playground I still feel odd charting that I didn't actually see the injured area.

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