A nine-year-old boy was “humiliated” while on a school trip last week when he was forced to urinate in a can on board a bus, according to his mother who is now fighting the school for action.
The mother, who does not want to be identified, says her son was with his class on a school snowboarding trip to Red Mountain when the excursion went downhill. The group was on a bus driving back from the mountain when her son needed to use the bathroom.
He has a medical issue that makes him need to use the bathroom more frequently than others.
“My nine-year-old advised his teacher that he needed to use the washroom, once, twice, three times,” the boy’s mother said. “One of the parents on the bus suggested to my son’s teacher that maybe it would be a good idea for him to urinate in a bottle.”
She says that, for some reason, the teacher thought that was a better idea than pulling the bus over or finding a gas station. Instead, they allegedly had him urinate in a can and hold the urine-filled container for the remainder of the bus ride before the teacher instructed him to bring it into the school and pour it down the drain.
When she first heard about the incident, she thought her son had acted out. She initially grounded him and made him write a letter of apology for his “lewd and disgusting behaviour.”
After talking to her son further, she learned he was simply following his teacher’s instructions.
“For me, that’s indecent exposure, that’s humiliation. It’s so many things. I can’t always find the words, but it’s inexcusable… and she needs to be properly punished for that,” the mom said.
The school district is cooperating with the mother’s complaint, but she says she doesn’t expect the teacher will be adequately punished. No one from the school district has confirmed the allegations took place.
“We are taking this reported incident seriously and have been working with the parent with regard to her report. This is an internal personnel issue. As such, I am not able to provide further information or commentary,” said Bill Ford, superintendent for the Kootenay-Columbia school district.
For now, the mother is worried about what kind of impact the episode will have on her young son.
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