Florida 6-Year-Old Girl Sent Home From School Without Pants
A 6-year-old girl was sent home from school without pants. Her father, Raymond McCurdy, said his little girl was in tears and ashamed when she got off the school bus. The Belle Terre Elementary school student had an accident at school earlier in the day and was given a pair of school-issued underwear to change into, but no pants.
Raymond McCurdy said that Belle Terre Elementary school officials did not call and inform the parents that 6-year-old had soiled her underwear and pants at school, MSN reports. The T-shirt the little girl from Palm Coast was wearing was reportedly barely long enough to cover the school-issued underwear.
The 6-year-old girl told her father that she had raised her hand and asked to use the restroom during class, but the teacher allegedly told her to wait. The child was sent home with the soiled clothing in a plastic bag, Click Orlando reports.
Florida family angry after 6-year-old daughter sent home from school in underwear http://t.co/ffKN7fZCFM
— Global News (@TheGlobalWire) October 19, 2015
“She has medical issues, and when she has to go, she has to go,” McCurdy told the local media. “We asked her [school staffer] why my daughter was sent home in just panties and a T-shirt, and she begins to tell me, ‘We thought she had a long enough shirt to be able to put her on the school bus and send her home.’ ”
According to the parents, the school was informed of the girl’s medical condition and the need to be able to go to the bathroom frequently. Raymond said that until the family moved to Florida last month, the restroom breaks had never caused a problem and their daughter had not had an accident at school.
McCurdy has hired an attorney to look into the incident, which he says was brushed off glibly by the school staffer and caused intense humiliation for his little girl. Officials at the Belle Terre Elementary School are now reportedly looking into why the child was not given a pair of pants to wear, or the parents were not called.
“They make me send her to school in clothes to their expectations,” McCurdy added. “Why couldn’t you send my kid home in clothes to your expectations? What would have happened if my kid would have gotten touched by somebody?”
Jennifer McCurdy, the 6-year-old girl’s mother, said she measured the length of the shirt in relation to the space above the child’s knee. The Belle Terre Elementary School handbook reportedly states that “shorts, skirts, skorts or jumpers are acceptable if they are within 4 inches above the knee.”
“That is more than 4 inches,” the upset mother added. “That’s 4 1/2 inches right there, and it’s still shorter than that… There are four contacts on our daughter’s emergency card. Pick up the phone and call us. We will come get our child.”
Dad horrified when school sends 6-year-old daughter home without pants http://t.co/N5tKcfygIH
— Joseph Brandon8 (@JosephBrandon8) October 19, 2015
An excerpt from a Flagler County School District response to the complaints by the Belle Terre Elementary School parents follows.
“There are procedures and protocols when incidents such as this happens. We’ve reviewed those during an investigation at Belle Terre Elementary School. We’ve invited the parents to sit down and discuss our findings, but they have declined.”
According to a report in the Journal of Urology, approximately 15 percent of children wet their pants at school, especially around age 6. The study went on to state restricted restroom breaks should only be an option once students reach third grade. A total of 89 percent of teachers believe allowing a restroom break every hour is excessive, the study notes.
[Image via Shutterstock.com]
