Reply #139: I have a couple thoughts come to mind... [View All]

[youthere]

First of all, I'm not condoning or condemning anyone in this scenario because it reads like typical media hype (you know, just a few facts, he said, she said all done to create the most dramatic story).

1. Pathogens? How do you know that child actually cleaned up pee?
was it analyzed?I mean really, did the child save a sample and have the parents submit it to a lab? My five year old thinks every drop of liquid on a bathroom floor is pee too.Could it have been a puddle of tank sweat? a puddle of water from the sink? If the child had been asked to take a paper towel and mop up water on the floor would you feel the same way?

2. I have to clean up messes that aren't mine all the time. Garbage left on the sidewalk, chewed gum off my shoe, and yes...even other people's pee sometimes when I visit a public restroom and I am unfortunate enough to claim the stall after some woman who thinks she has the ability to hover. I also have a son and a husband who aren't winning any prizes for their aim. I take a quick swipe and wash my hands afterwards.Hardly call for distress.

3.The article says the boy reported someone urinated on the floor-assuming it was urine, Is it possible that it was one of those notorious "dribble" that little boys are so famous for as opposed to a sprawling puddle where some mischevious little boy emptied his entire bladder? If my daughter said my son peed on the floor, and all it was was a "dribble" I'd probably say "Oh just take a paper towel and clean it up" because I just don't think it's worth calling out a haz mat team for (and yes, she would tell you I FORCED her, and how MEAN I was).I tend to think (at least I hope) that if it were a huge mess, the teacher would have called the custodian.

It sounds like an article written deliberately vague and misleading just to work people up in a frenzy.
If it WAS urine, and it was the result of some child deliberately peeing on the floor (not just an "overshot") then yeah a custodian should have been called and the teacher was completely out of line, but it just seems like the article was written so that people would read a lot more into it than what was there. That's just the way I see it. I wasn't there.

On edit: The bathroom cleaning detail: I don't see anything wrong with making the kids pick up paper towels on the floor, and the like.It's only fair, you splash water on the floor you wipe it up."Scrubbing" the bathroom is a different issue and should not be enforced, but it doesn't sound (at least not to me) like she was forcing them to sterilize the bathroom, just pick up.