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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSchool under fire for placing autistic student's desk in bathroom stall
A middle school in Washington is coming under fire after staff placed the desk of an 11-year-old boy with autism in a bathroom, CNN reports. According to the network, the boys desk was moved after his mother, Danielle Goodwin, told staff at the Whatcom Middle School in Bellingham that her son, who also has an auto immune disorder, worked better in quiet surroundings.
"I was stunned," Goodwin told a CNN affiliate last week. "I was so shocked I just took the picture because I didn't believe what I was seeing." Goodwin in a Facebook post last Thursday shared an image of her son standing in the bathroom next to his desk and chair. Goodwin said in the post, which had racked up over 15,000 reactions as of Sunday afternoon, that his teacher also provided a camping mat and pillow for him to nap on the bathroom floor.
In a statement shared on the Bellingham Public Schools website on Friday, Superintendent Greg Baker wrote that officials have been fact-finding in order to ensure we understand what occurred; that work continues. This current situation is an example of staff trying to seek a solution to temporarily repurpose a room. To our knowledge, the room had been used as storage, not as an active restroom, he also wrote.
We are all probably aware that state funding for schools is limited, particularly with regards to construction, and thus schools often have limited space to meet students instructional and social-emotional needs, he wrote. We are always looking for creative ways to best use our facilities to meet students needs. He went on to write that his staff is incredibly skilled, compassionate and dedicated, but added that like all of us, including myself, our staff are not perfect.
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/462517-washington-school-under-fire-for-placing-autistic-students-desk
vsrazdem
(2,176 posts)Drahthaardogs
(6,843 posts)If the boy needs a private place, and they have nothing else, why vilify them? My kids had classes in portable trailers. There were no extra rooms.
If this is all they have to try to accommodate him, at least they are trying.
salin
(48,954 posts)I was a school academic administrator (who also taught a class or two a semester in the last several years) until 5 years ago. I think "tax cut/slash public funding" era has taken a big bite out of many public schools' budgets - AND an atmosphere of cutting regulation = and attitude of e don't have to plan to provide services/accommodations (unless challenged - and not always then) + an attitude of late that people who are different (race, gender, religious beliefs, abilities) don't need to be considered as discriminated against b/c "that's just PC" (and doesn't really have to be addressed.) A trifecta of permission to slide backwards in serving kids.
I have worked in tough circumstances - and we found ways to accommodate. This seems less like an accommodation, and more like making a point/statement to parents and students who dare to ask for accommodations (even when written into the law) via humiliation as an example/deterrent to requesting accommodations. Not unlike Trump's increasingly cruel border policies being - admittedly cruel - as a strategy to prevent future immigration.
a kennedy
(29,464 posts)Drahthaardogs
(6,843 posts)At least they tried. Not all of went to rich schools. Ours was so poor it was ridiculous. I find your privalege unacceptable.
obamanut2012
(25,911 posts)Putting a kid that is probably already singled out into a bathrom, where his desk is next to a toilet. You know, where people pee and shit. Unacceptable. Your employer would never do that to you, and you wouldn't allow it if they did.
You refit a closet, you bring in the parent and discuss what you can do, you do not put them kid next to a toilet. You do not do that to their self worth.
Check your own privilege.
Drahthaardogs
(6,843 posts)Oh yes, let's live in fantasy land.
My employer puts me in Level A and gas me sample shit that kills people dead in seconds.
Jake Stern
(3,145 posts)were an equipment closet or the former boiler room/basement.
The problem is that many of these parents who demand schools to cater to their child's every quirk are frequently the same ones that vote down bond issues or raises to property taxes.
a kennedy
(29,464 posts)but I mean they put him in a restroom.
Jake Stern
(3,145 posts)In the school I worked at even the faculty lounge was re-purposed as extra classroom space.
If that's the only place with absolute quiet like he seeks then what else are they supposed to do?
a kennedy
(29,464 posts)left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)They put this kid in a bathroom!
Drahthaardogs
(6,843 posts)Read the article
obamanut2012
(25,911 posts)WTF do you think that did to him?
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)Drahthaardogs
(6,843 posts)Obviously if there were options I would prefer something else. However, in an age where teachers routinely have 35 to 40 kids per classroom and teach in portable trailers with limited heat no air conditioning and leaking roofs, i would not expect more than a broom closet.
JI7
(89,174 posts)Drahthaardogs
(6,843 posts)Did you go to school in a poor area? I did. Not everyone has unlimited resources. It was an unused bathroom they used for storage so they repurposed it and let him have it.
The article clearly states they don't have a free room.
JI7
(89,174 posts)Drahthaardogs
(6,843 posts)And is used constantly. So they are supposed to shut it down for the rest of the school? It's not an option.
TidalWave46
(2,061 posts)Far too many schools dont have the resources to handle what they have. In many areas the strain is unbelievable. Such pressure can lead to poor decisions even if the intentions werent bad. Similarly, such pressure and stress can also lead to a shift in ones ethical and moral compass. This is a systemic problem.
Drahthaardogs
(6,843 posts)And the article clearly said they had NO room and NO budget. All these people attributing sadistic and revenge motives into the teachers should go check themselves. When you have no other way you do what you can with what you have. I don't know too many teachers who are in it because fucking with kids gets them off.
TidalWave46
(2,061 posts)Its just a bad idea to park the kid next to a shitter. A toilet looks like a toilet whether its been used in the last hour or not. You at least discuss it with the mother beforehand.
missingthebigdog
(1,233 posts)Or repurpose a teacher lounge, or a coaches office, or a section of the library. I find it incredibly difficult to believe that a bathroom was the only possible option.
Just for the sake of argument, lets assume it was the only option. Dont you think it would have been more appropriate to remove the plumbing and actually convert it into study space?
essme
(1,207 posts)School libraries are very loud these days.
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,145 posts)Drahthaardogs
(6,843 posts)Resource poor districts do what they can. Why does everyone have to put evil intent on this? Pisses me off because my parents were teachers in a poor district and we qualified for food stamps.
Fucking making it sound like the sadistic teachers did this as a vendetta when they said they had no room
Srkdqltr
(6,127 posts)He and his mother caused a problem so they did the worst thing they could think of to make the kid go away.. or t punish him for being a problem
Drahthaardogs
(6,843 posts)Especially the ones that need extra help. In fact, those sick fucks are willing to work TWO jobs just for the chance to fuck with disabled children
Response to Srkdqltr (Reply #31)
Jake Stern This message was self-deleted by its author.
obamanut2012
(25,911 posts)Liyterally, place your desk right next to a TOILET.
Drahthaardogs
(6,843 posts)And didn't bother to see that this was an unused bathroom they had been using for storage and repurposed.
JI7
(89,174 posts)essme
(1,207 posts)They can be noisier than a classroom, easily.
I am a librarian in a school of over 1200 students (middle school)....from 7:00 AM until 3:00 PM it can be a zoo! I love it--- and I consider myself a teacher- librarian.
RainCaster
(10,682 posts)That's the nicest thing I can say.
Srkdqltr
(6,127 posts)That is what I am seeing.. he causes a problem for the school so lets settle it in the worse possible way than say .. we are doing something... Sadistic fools.
JI7
(89,174 posts)obamanut2012
(25,911 posts)And, in REALLY ableist privileged ways. It is really appalling.
Mike Nelson
(9,903 posts)... I changed my opinion. What's important is what works for this young man. The problem is the lack of communication between the education staff and parents... and what in the world was his picture doing on Facebook?
Mike Nelson
(9,903 posts)... I assume he has a 1x1 assistant or staff to supervise. No student can be unsupervised... especially a special needs student.
Initech
(99,914 posts)MineralMan
(146,192 posts)the school was an old building. Unruly children were sent to sit in the "cloakroom" that was a hallway-like room in every classroom in the building. A chair was in there, so the offender would sit by him or herself in that room, which always smelled of childhood sweat, lunches in paper bags, and some unidentifiable smells.
How do I know this? From time to time, I was deemed to be one of those unruly children, and got to sit in there. The benefit? You could still hear the teacher, and there were snacks.