Mill Plain Elementary, a public school in Vancouver, Washington, is making headlines this week due to?an unorthodox classroom policy that resulted in two 9-year-old students wetting themselves during class because they couldn’t use the toilet without paying.
This preventable incident was caused by an unnamed?third-grade teacher, who designed a controversial classroom-management system that utilizes monopoly?currency. Students can earn the play money by performing good deeds and following directions. They?may then use the currency to buy snacks, small toys, and other privileges. The teacher also expects, however, that the children?pay the seemingly-large sum of $50 for a bathroom break.
According to?Jasmine Al-Ayadhi, the mother of one of the girls who wet herself, the problem?arose when her daughter was running out of money: The girl, Reem, had $50 of the fake currency remaining?- enough either to buy popcorn, or to finance a trip to the restroom.?Reem chose the former and, unable to wait until after class to use the bathroom, ended up wetting her pants.
Al-Ayadhi was, understandably, upset by the incident, saying?in an interview with KATU News:
“…when a child has to pay money to use the bathroom, that’s wrong. It’s inhumane. That’s a health issue.” She mentioned that her daughter experienced?considerable pain?while trying to wait: “She said it hurt so bad, the pain was so bad.”
Reem also stated that, after having wet herself, she “had to wear boy pants and…did get teased.”
Merchon Ortega’s daughter, Lilliana, also wet her pants on the same day as Al-Ayadhi’s daughter. Lilliana explains that she, too, felt humiliated after she wet herself and was forced to change:
“It makes me feel kind of horrible in somebody else’s pants and undies…”
There is something outrageous?about?this?policy, which?robs young children of access to something — a toilet — that should be a fundamental right. However, even more startling?than this issue is the school district’s response to it. Although officials did investigate the incident, during which time the teacher in question was placed on leave, The Columbian reports that “the teacher will not be disciplined.”
Following this apparent lack of justice, Al-Ayadhi has resolved to home-school her daughter. She is quoted as saying:
“How can you return a child to a school where she’s being humiliated and degraded?”
Al-Ayadhi said:
“This isn’t a jail. This isn’t a prison. We send our kids to school to learn and to get a good education.”
School should not be an institution that intimidates?or demeans our children by restricting their right to use a toilet. How then, can the school district excuse this type of child abuse?
