LAWTEY, Fla. – A frustrated Bradford County mother is speaking out after she said her son's kindergarten teacher would not allow him to use the restroom. The 6-year-old urinated in his pants and had to stay in his soiled underwear through the end of the school day.
The boy's mother, Brandy Roberts, said one of the things that upsets her the most is that the school didn't contact her at any time. She feels like they should have since her son's accident happened with nearly three hours left in the school day, leaving him to sit the rest of the time in wet underwear.
Roberts said that her son, Ryen, did have a change of clothes at Lawtey Community School in case an accident should happen, which the school district said it asks of all kindergarten parents. Roberts said the school should've called her.
"My child sat in some (soiled) underwear for 2½ hours and I was never contacted," Roberts said. "I'm his mother, let me make that decision. Call me and I will let you know the next step to do. I should be notified for everything."
Brian Graham, spokesman for the Bradford County School District, said that per district protocol teachers do not go into the restrooms with students to make sure that they have changed all of their clothes, nor do they go through the clothes bags to see what is inside.
"The student notified the teacher of the accident and the student was instructed to go to the restroom in the classroom to change out of his wet clothing into fresh, dry clothing," Graham said. "The student went into the restroom, changed into the fresh clothing provided by his parents, placed the wet clothing in a plastic bag, and his chair was cleaned by school personnel."
Graham also said that at no time did the child tell his teacher or any other school employee that he was wearing wet underwear.
"I feel like when I let my kid go to school for eight hours, I put him in your care. I want him to be treated as if he's your own," Roberts said. "No, I don't expect her to go to the bathroom with him and make sure that he's changed all of his clothes, but as a teacher I do expect for her to ask him if everything is OK, 'Did you get everything changed?'"
Roberts said that her son gets a paper sent home each day about the day, and that the teacher could easily have left a quick note alerting her to what happened.
"All that was there that day was a smiley face, nothing telling me this happened today in class. Nothing," Roberts said. "It was just a smiley face like everything was perfect that day, and it wasn't."
Now, Roberts said she has removed her son from Lawtey Community School. She said that she feels bad that he will have to leave all of the friends he has made with just a few months left in the school year.
Roberts said that her son will be starting school Thursday at Lake Butler Elementary. She said that she is hopeful that some good comes out of this and it doesn't happen to anyone else's child in the future.