There are few things more embarrassing than getting your period and bleeding through your clothes. While this is true at any age, it’s especially true when you’re in middle school. Having your period is difficult enough at that age, but it’s significantly worse when everyone knows.
A middle schooler in Washington claims that her teacher wouldn’t let her use the restroom while she had her period. Her parents are calling the school out for embarrassing her, and demanding some rule changes.
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She followed the rules.
Byllie Eighinger-Lemm, a 13-year-old student at Yelm Middle School, got her period while she was in class. The teen could feel that she was bleeding, and that the blood was going through her clothes. So she raised her hand to be excused to deal with the situation.
“I was like, ‘But I need to go to the bathroom. I’m on my period. I need to go change my pad,’” Byllie told news station KIRO. “I was straight up with her, and then she was like, ‘Go sit down.’”
Her teacher wasn't changing her mind.
According to the teen, she was denied access to the bathroom because she had used her allotted bathroom passes. She began texting her dad that she had her period, but her teacher wouldn’t let her leave. Her dad told her to leave class regardless, and go tend to herself if she needed to.
She knew she was breaking the rules, but she did what she had to.
She left class, and was confronted by school administrators in the hallway. They told her that she was being given in-house suspension. She had to grab her things from class, while still dealing with her period bleeding.
“I knew that it was visible and that they could see it,” she said. “It was really embarrassing. Then, I was kind of scared because I was getting in trouble.”
Her parents want change.
When her father Bill Lemm picked her up, Byllie was in tears. “She missed the rest of the week of school, due to embarrassment,” he said. “She got in the truck and she was in tears.”
Now, he’s trying to hold the school accountable. “These are young minds growing into adulthood,” he told the outlet. “That teacher, by demoralizing her the way she did, there’s no fixing that.”
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The school is working toward a resolution.
“We are aware of the situation and are investigating the incident,” District Communications Director Teri Melone said in a statement to the news outlet. “District and building administration have been in contact with the family, and we will follow up with them after the investigation.”
When asked what justice would look like, the teen stated, “Just knowing that she won’t do that to any other kid,” she said. “Knowing that could happen to someone younger than me … that’s kind of heartbreaking.”