Here's a story that will piss you off. Sorry for the horrible pun, but it's a pretty horrible thing when a 10-year-old girl is made to pee in a cup while riding a school bus on a field trip.
According to CBS, a lawsuit was filed this week by the girl's parents, Todd and Lisa Holmes, for the incident, which happened in Wilmington, Illinois last January. When the girl repeatedly told teachers she had to use the restroom, the bus driver wouldn't stop. So instead they came up with an outrageous "solution."
While the bus was still driving down the road, they handed the girl a cup and told her to go urinate in it in front of the stairs of the bus. Yes, while the bus was full of other students. Oh, they held up some coats for privacy, but how anyone could think that was acceptable is insane.
Apparently the bus driver had called dispatch to get permission to pull over, but was denied. Why isn’t clear, especially since the driver did later pull over to let her pour out the contents of the cup. Regardless, those teachers should have said it was an emergency and insisted the bus stop.
That poor girl. Sure, you can say she should have gone before getting on the bus, but she was 10. Sometimes it's not that simple. And what choice did she have? She certainly should have had one better than peeing in a cup. When I first read the headline, I thought surely it would have been bullies who made a girl do something so awful, but teachers? Who are supposed to be caring for students?
The girl’s family is suing, as well they should. They’re asking for $150,000 in damages caused by emotional duress, though I don’t know that any amount could ever make up for such humiliation. Their attorney told the station:
Obviously the parents are very distraught and upset that this happened. They entrust the parents and the teachers and the chaperones on the field trip to provide a safe environment for the children and what occurred was just outrageous.
Seriously, outrageous. There’s a time to follow procedures, and there’s a time to put children’s well being and dignity first, and this was definitely a time for the latter.
Can you see any reason anyone would think this was okay?
Image via bsabarnowl/Flickr
