Scat, you have said it all. Lawyer Dumpster sees some liability for the day care center, as well as perhaps the newspaper. Can you say "invasion of privacy"?

It seems to me that this is the logical result from paranoia over child abuse. As the article says, "According to the Division of Child Development's findings, the two day care workers at the site that day said they had been told by facility administrators that they were not allowed to touch children."

Parents freak out over the spectre of adults getting near their child's private parts, and now they're freaking out because adults refused to go near their child's private parts.

I can understand the fear workers have of touching children, given the litigious nature of people in the U.S. today. But to demand that the mother clean the soiled bathroom was over the top. The staff should have done the cleanup. Poopy kids are part of the job.

Also, the child was old enough that a staff member could have handed her soap-and-water soaked cloths or Wet Wipes and instructed her in self-cleaning without touching her. Then wrap her in a towel until fresh clothes arrive, and let her sit in the classroom. They could even have said something to the other kids, such as, "Laura is our Luau Princess today, so she gets to wear the special Princess sarong."

There was no excuse to traumatize a child and subject her to humiliation.

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PooperGal
"Searching for the Origin of the Feces"

This article was disheartening and further brings to light the cruelty and inconsideration with which children are treated. The day care should have received permission to clean up the child or at least provided materials for her to clean herself as best she could.

Then there are the parents of the cruel children who mocked the girl. Those parents are equally culpable by negatively discussing the child in front of their own children who attended the daycare and making Laura a 'scapegoat' when they complained of having to provide a change of clothes after the incident. They basically instigated the mockery.

And those are the same parents will wonder "why" their precious little Johnny or Susie is being expelled for unacceptable behavior/actions in a few years' time....

Although I can understand teachers not wanting to touch a child, and I as aparent would probably deny any other teacher to touch one of my kids unless it was a teacher that I knew and trusted very very well. I know and trust my daughters teacher quite a lot. I do not however know a couple of her secondary after-school program teachers, and would not trust them farther than I could throw them.

IT is terrible for the school and newspaper to have outed the poor little girl. As if shitting yourself isn't bad enough, to know the whold community to know about it is another.

Luckily my kids are old enough that this does not happen, and I'm only 3 minutes from their school in the event it did.

It really says a lot about the types of people that others trust with their kids each and every day.

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Regional POWER POOPING CHAMPION 1988-2006
Poop Shooter!

The local newspaper in my area does not name any victums until after anything is solved. Proabably including little Laura. And why was teh bathroom soiled? I thought she was in a towel.

Kid will make fun of you every year that you are with them. For instance, my niece pissed her pants in first grade and they still call her "pissypants [Sarah]" She is in 9th grade now.

I prepare curriculum for a preschool; I don't have a credential, so I don't teach, but I type the story boards and cut out the widgets and dye the macaroni festive colors, etc...

I will attest:
If a kid there has a POOP accident, and it's beyond what the kid can clean up alone, first they are handed a pack of wipes and IF the poor tyke is successful, they'll be handed some "emergency" clothing to don.

If they can't get it cleaned up, the above is EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENS TO THEM!!!!! They are handed a towel, told to make themselves as comfortable as possible (ON THEIR OWN, WITHOUT HELP), an aide or someone (thankfully, not me) is assigned to sit in a chair OUTSIDE the restroom, in sight of other adults, to keep the kid company, and SOME poor family member has to STOP their day, drive there, and clean the kid up.

NO ONE, absolutely NO ONE is allowed to assist with bathrooming a child, in ANY way, PERIOD.

In the case I witnessed a few months ago, it was a little boy, and he made it to the potty, but he got poop all over his pants trying to wipe. (Your legs are short, your scrunched pants make it hard to bend your knees, etc...)

A teacher was just sitting there outside the bathroom. He was in there, HOWLING, and she was trying her best to comfort him verbally. It was wrenching. I went around to the Dutch door on the other side, and asked him if he wanted me to slide him a book or a puzzle box or something. I just felt so bad for him.

Finally, his dad showed up to help him. What a horrible day for everyone involved. All because the school is afraid of being accused of sexual misconduct.

What the main post and GGG are describing represent one extreme on the reaction scale. However, the result of this sort of irrationality can be exposure to civil liability for infliction of emotional distress on the child, and, if bad enough, possible criminal, or at least child welfare, charges, for negligence. Try explaining to the State Inspectors why you are leaving a child to stew in his shit for such a long period of time. Your license will be gone before the water gets hot!

When I put LD in pre-K, we had explicit understandings about what happened in case of an "accident" like this (and they DID happen!). I realize not everybody has a choice, but to the extent I did, I would never put my child in a place where I didn't trust the caregivers to wipe his ass for him!

And (again realizing that some folks don't have a choice) why did Laura's mom have her in a day care facility one and one-half hours away?

I would have put my kids in a different school too.
These apologies from the school board, if they weren't public then they're worthless. The school board needs to send a letter to all the families with students at that school or show up at PTA meetings explaining that they were wrong to act the way they did. Those policies should have been in place before the incident took place, and they had no right to disclose the identity of the family when they were slapped with a provisionary license.

The other parents are great specimens of classy behavior, aren't they? The right thing to do when the school board introduces new policies that are supposed to protect your kids is to, of course, bitch about those polices and about the poor girl who had an accident. Did it cross their mind at all that if something happened to their kids at school, the school board would also use them as a scapegoat to divert responsibility? After all, if they did it once, who's to say they wouldn't do it again?
They should have been supporting the Hamilton's, not teaching their kids, through their asshatery, to mock them.

This is a copy of what I submitted to the paper. I doubt that they'll print it, but they'll sure have to read it.

Shame on you Sonja Elmquist and the News and Record paper for naming the little girl who was a victim of an irresponsible and heartless daycare center when she was made to sit in her own filth for over an hour. What made this newpaper, which I had hoped might have been filled with educated and considerate reporters, think that naming this child or her family was a good idea, considering the nature of the grievance and how incredibly cruel other children can be?

daphne procz-shorts

I did not mention the baseball field incident, but I implied it.

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.....hugging bunnies since 1969

Good on you, Daph. Maybe we should send a letter to that effect.

Sorry, I meant maybe we should ALL send a letter to that effect.

I say bombard the newspaper and sent a cc: to the actual school---if they are still in business. If so, bet they won't be for long, if the mad mama decides to take legal recourse. I have only twice filed a suit in my life--I gotta tell you this would have been a second case.....

OOps 3rd CASE!!

The government should assist in getting Laura a new name and social security number, then enroll her in the Pooper Relocation Program. She will forever be known as "Leaky Laura," if she isn't given a new identity in a new school district. Seriously, It disgusts me that there are so many perverts out there now that we have to be this protective with our children. Back in the day if someone had an accident they would strip the kid in front of everyone and let WHOEVER wipe the kids ass be it nurse, teacher, or janitor. It's like "The Patriot Act" is there to protect us but takes away our liberties. This is "The Pooptriot Act." Ultimately, Laura needs to know there are plenty of folks out there who respect her dignity even though she was violated in this instance by the media and that will be the job of her Mom & Dad. She should learn to never settle for anything less than respect from care-givers, and peers. When she is old enough to read Poopreport I hope she looks these posts up in the archives, and can have a good laugh.

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"Rectum hell, killed em' both." Author Unknown

Every school dhsold have one person for this task. This employee would have gone through the most extensive background and psychological testing to make sure thay are not sick fucks. They would wear only brown clothing and a brown mask.

It would be their only job to clean the bathrooms and clean up poopy kids. They would be paid a lot of money because, well, poop is a shitty job!!

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Regional POWER POOPING CHAMPION 1988-2006
Poop Shooter!

Didn't we report a story about that guy who collects dog crap for a living? Seems like a business like that could expand its horizons into daycare poop cleaning. States would have to establish a credentialling program for it, however, to make sure that the Poopy Cleanup Technician (for want of a job title) is not a perv and is suitably trained to work with children.

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PooperGal
"Searching for the Origin of the Feces"

By the looks of the guy that did the dog poop cleaning, I think he might scare many many children.

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Regional POWER POOPING CHAMPION 1988-2006
Poop Shooter!

True, but look at it this way: the guy would be creating work for himself! One look at him, and little tots would crap their pants. Voila! A day's pay for Mr. Poopy Cleanup Technician.

Seriously, I do think that professional pooper scoopers could branch out into this area. The daycare division can hire non-scary looking people such as matronly women.

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PooperGal
"Searching for the Origin of the Feces"

i agree that her name should have been kept secret and that a crap cleaners of america would be a booming buisiness