School under fire for placing autistic student's desk in bathroom stall

[left-of-center2012]

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 boy’s 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]

1. It sure doesn't look like a storage room to me.

[Drahthaardogs]

2. So what is the school supposed to do?

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]

3. There should be a resource room with a special education teacher, and small load of students.

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]

4. Seriously?? Nothing other then a bathroom???

and usually I only save my 3 angry smilies for tRump. This is so unbelievable and unacceptable.

[Drahthaardogs]

14. If all they had was an unused restroom

At least they tried. Not all of went to rich schools. Ours was so poor it was ridiculous. I find your privalege unacceptable.

[obamanut2012]

23. Your ableist privilege is what is acceptable

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]

26. And if there is money?

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]

35. In my former school the only places that would meet the requirements

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]

36. I hear that....oh no money to upgrade our schools.....

but I mean they put him in a restroom.

[Jake Stern]

38. Should they block off the library from other students for the day so he can have a quiet area?

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]

39. I'M SORRY NOT A RESTROOM.....NOT EVER.

[left-of-center2012]

5. "My kids had classes in portable trailers"

They put this kid in a bathroom!

[Drahthaardogs]

15. An UNUSED bathroom they were using for storage

Read the article

[obamanut2012]

24. THey put his desk next to a toilet, period

WTF do you think that did to him?

[left-of-center2012]

40. Are you OK with your kid put into a bathroom to study?

[Drahthaardogs]

42. If my kid required absolute quiet and it's all they had, yes

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]

6. there is a difference between those 2 things

[Drahthaardogs]

16. If it's ALL they have, it's all they have

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]

17. they asked if they can use the library and were told no

[Drahthaardogs]

21. The library is NOT a quiet place

And is used constantly. So they are supposed to shut it down for the rest of the school? It's not an option.

[TidalWave46]

27. I think you are making what should be a good point in a very flawed manner.

Far too many schools don’t 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 weren’t bad. Similarly, such pressure and stress can also lead to a shift in one’s ethical and moral compass. This is a systemic problem.

[Drahthaardogs]

28. Of course it's a systemic problem

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]

30. I agree with you, overall.

It’s just a bad idea to park the kid next to a shitter. A toilet looks like a toilet whether it’s been used in the last hour or not. You at least discuss it with the mother beforehand.

[missingthebigdog]

8. Partition an area in the classroom, perhaps?

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, let’s assume it was the only option. Don’t you think it would have been more appropriate to remove the plumbing and actually convert it into study space?

[essme]

13. Not the library

School libraries are very loud these days.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

9. Christ, this place.

[Drahthaardogs]

19. My sentiments exactly.

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]

31. Yes the sadistic teachers did this as a vendetta

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]

34. Yeah, cause teachers live like paupers cause they HATE kids

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

[obamanut2012]

20. How would you like your boss to put you next to where you shit?

Liyterally, place your desk right next to a TOILET.

[Drahthaardogs]

22. My boss would be pissed because I didn't read the article

And didn't bother to see that this was an unused bathroom they had been using for storage and repurposed.

[JI7]

7. why couldn't he use the library ?

[essme]

12. School libraries are not quiet anymore

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. This is messed up

That's the nicest thing I can say.

[Srkdqltr]

11. Is this to "punish " the boy for being a problem for the school?

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]

18. that's how it seems to me

[obamanut2012]

25. Yes, and in both DU threads people are excusing it

And, in REALLY ableist privileged ways. It is really appalling.

[Mike Nelson]

29. After reading the story...

... 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]

32. Also...

... I assume he has a 1x1 assistant or staff to supervise. No student can be unsupervised... especially a special needs student.

[Initech]

33. I wouldn't blame the kid for going full Milton on the school.

[MineralMan]

41. In my elementary school, back in the 1950s,

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.