Should the punishment fit the grime?

Should the punishment fit the grime?

Posted 02.24.2006 by scatoman

And still the stream of school shitting stories runs! Back to my home state again today, where there's news of yet another education-related incident concerning bathroom behavior -- and, like the incident on the school bus from yesterday, this too raises ethical problems.

Much like the incident on the school bus, it's a simple scenario.

Houston resident Cecile Tezino, mother of Judson Robinson Elementary School pupil Jalen Jackson, eight, alleges that her son was ordered by a female school custodian to clean up feces on the bathroom floor -- feces that, the custodian claimed, the boy had left there himself. Jalen ended up with his clothes smeared with excrement as a result of his obeying the custodian (he knelt on the floor to clean up the mess).

Ms. Tezino says that might have led to his contracting hepatitis or a staph infection. She's disgusted at what her son had to do. "It seems inhumane for a person, for another person to ask an eight-year-old kid to do something like that," she told Eyewitness News. She calls for the termination of the custodian's employment.

According to the Houston Independent School District, "the custodian in question has been reassigned to duties at the school when children are not present" and "appropriate disciplinary actions [will be taken] once the investigation is complete."

Like the school bus scenario, this is not clear-cut. If the boy didn't leave the feces on the floor, then the custodian acted in a completely inappropriate manner, and should be severely disciplined. The pupil suffered an injustice here, there's no doubt about that.

But even if the young lad did lay the cable in question, the custodian still had no legal right to make him clean the floor. According to the article, the school district says "it is inappropriate for any employee to make a student clean up human waste in a school bathroom." After all, isn't it part of a janitor's job description to deal with such mess?

Yet isn't it also a good idea to show kids that if they make a mess then it's their responsibility to clean it up? Harsh, maybe, but when it comes to turd terrorism, I think we should be nipping in the bud. The boy in the article is the same age as my stepson and his friends, and if I caught one of them in close proximity to a pile of poo on our bathroom floor, I would be tempted to make them get the mop and the bleach and get to it.

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Show some poop support, or make a poop retort.

Lame comment! -1 point

KeepOnCrappin (551) -- 02.24.2006

The kid could have got a shovel.

Yay first post

Poop Shooter (598) -- 02.24.2006

Yea, why didn't the custodian give him a mop and shovel. Hell, when my dog craps on the floor, I don't play in it. a few paper towels, some surgical gloves, windex sprayed from above and more paper towels.

On the other hand... damn custodian.. had he or she done that to my kid, I'de be in jail for assault.

_______
Regional POWER POOPING CHAMPION 1988-2006
Poop Shooter!

Fart Poopie (1257) -- 02.24.2006

If the janitor had seen the kid leave the turd on the floor, then I don't see a problem with her giving the kid the tools to clean the poop up. She should have, at least, walked him through it, he's only eight.
If she didn't see it happen, then she should have dealt with it and cleaned it up.

AssBlaster2000 (1116) -- 02.24.2006

At home is a different story . . . if your child craps on the floor, you had him a bucket and a mop, you probably have a pretty good idea of whose poop he's cleaning up, and you can make sure he does it right.

This janitor should, without question, be fired for doing what she did. As an emergency responder at a former job, I had to go through training involving how to handle bloodborne pathogens (or shitborne pathogens, or barfborne pathogens, you get the idea) and get hepatitis shots, paid for by the company, before I could attain the privilege of cleaning up bodily fluids. When I did (the only thing I ever had to clean up was blood) I had to don rubber gloves and an apron, and use bleach solution to clean up the blood.

Basically, you gotta go through a lot of crap to clean up crap. Janitors go through the same thing I did. Imagine if that wasn't his poop, but instead the poop of a child with hepatitis or AIDS, or any disease -- we all know how hygienic 8-year-olds are. Dumpster may also weigh in on this, but this creates so many liability issues for the school. If that kid gets sick his parents can sue the school's ass off.

The Shit Volcano (3740) -- 02.25.2006

I really think this recent rash of bathroom Nazism is just another reason why public schools need a serious overhaul. I have run into way too many third graders who can't even read at the kindergarten level and can't tell me where Canada is. But that's another story.

The janitor should have been fired for this. How the hell do you work a job at a school "where children aren't present"?

TurdyTreeAnaTurd (100) -- 02.25.2006

What's a female custodian doing in the boy's bathroom while it is occupied? Or am I being too shameful?

GottaGoGirl (2616) -- 02.25.2006

It doesn't say how the custodian could PROVE it was Jalen's poop, and the quotes from the mom don't say that the kid DENIES it was his poop. I say that without more information, a determination cannot be reached. If it WAS his poop, WHY WAS IT ON THE FLOOR?!? If the janitor didn't SEE him do it, WHAT WAS SHE THINKING?!? And has ANYONE else ever had a female school janitor? Just curious.

KeepOnCrappin (551) -- 02.27.2006

AB2k, that school had better have a lot of insurence. I would have my kid fake being sick in order to sue said school.

KeepOnCrappin (551) -- 02.27.2006

TSV, i asked 5 3rd graders, and they all told me that the language spoken in Canada, which according to them is in Asia, in Canadian.

KeepOnCrappin (551) -- 02.27.2006

sorry, that should be *is Canadian* in the last line there.

The Dumpster (2506) -- 02.27.2006

AB2K writes, "Dumpster may also weigh in on this, but this creates so many liability issues for the school." Damn straight! Aside from civil liability, I'm sure this would send the custodian off to jail in many states.

And what the FUCK are eight-year-old children doing being supervised by a custodian, anyway? Not to take away from that job, but schools are supposed to have procedures in place for students to be supervised only by appropriate staff.

I could go on and on, having been legal counsel for both public and private schools for almost 20 years. Unless there's something we're not being told here, this scenario should result in multiple firings (who was really supposed to be looking after the child anyway?), plus major-league monetary liability for both the school system and any individuals involved, including, if any racial component is involved, federal civil rights penalties.

And people wonder why this world needs lawyers.

Anonymous Coward (not verified) -- 08.26.2006

lazy employees need the boot. our kids may do wrong but the school nurse stated no feces were found in young lad clothes. the custodian problem would not have done this to one of her own. her lazy ass should have did her job. all the other toilet were already overflowed.