RSSChild sent home with feces to change schools
District apologizes to boy’s family, addresses issue with teacher
Yakima Herald-Republic
YAKIMA, Wash. -- The West Valley kindergartner whose teacher allegedly sent him home with a plastic bag containing human feces won’t be returning to that teacher’s classroom.
Instead, the boy’s father said Thursday, the child will be finishing the year with a different teacher at another school in the West Valley School District. Details are still being worked out with district officials, who met with the boy’s parents Wednesday night.
“I was very encouraged by their response,” said the father, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Jason. “They profusely apologized.”
On Thursday, West Valley School District Superintendent Peter Ansingh said district officials investigated the April 17 incident involving longtime teacher Sue Graham and have taken “appropriate action” in the matter. He declined to elaborate but said Graham still has a job.
The teacher allegedly packed a bag of fecal matter into the boy’s backpack along with a sticky note that read: “This little turd was found on the floor in my room.”
“There’s no way the district condones what happened,” Ansingh said. “We feel badly for the family.”
The boy’s parents met Wednesday night with the superintendent, Apple Valley Elementary School principal Karen Craig and the district’s special services director, Hans Michielsen. The boy’s father said his son spends part of the school day in a special needs class and part of the day in Graham’s kindergarten class.
The father said he and his wife asked about the teacher and whether she had an explanation. “What has she said? What made her do this? ... And they said they can’t speak for her and her actions.”
Graham, 58, didn’t return calls to Apple Valley school or her home seeking comment Thursday.
“She has chosen not to speak, so the union has chosen not to,” said West Valley Education Association President Amy Osborn, who teaches history at the high school.
The father acknowledged he’s been called to Apple Valley three times during the school year to help his son clean up after himself after using the restroom, but said his son had never had an accident in class.
Last Friday, he said the teacher called him and said her classroom smelled, then asked if his son may have had an accident. He said he told her it may have been his son, and that there were extra clothes in they boy’s backpack.
“It has to be noted that we have worked with (her) every step along the way,” the father said of Graham. “We are just as frustrated, and I haven’t sent any special packages with a surprise in it to her. She just handled the situation wrong. It’s humiliating what she did, to my son and our family.”
News stories about the April 17 incident, meanwhile, continue to spread on the Internet, garnering comments that ranged from disgust and outrage, to support for the boy and his family as well as the teacher.
Some Web users and bloggers called the backpack note and package “cruel,” “sub-human” and “disgusting.” One wrote, “Give this teacher an award for not being politically correct ... ”
Ann Cairns, whose daughter is in a different Apple Valley kindergarten class, told the Herald-Republic on Thursday that people often are too quick to blame teachers when issues come up: “I think there also needs to be parent responsibility, too, not just the school.”
The boy’s father said he contacted local media this week after he called and
e-mailed school and district officials but got no response. School officials have referred all questions about the incident to Ansingh, who didn’t address the initial lack of response.
Ever since KIMA-TV and its sister station in Seattle, ABC-affiliate KOMO, broadcast the story Tuesday night, the phone “has been going crazy,” he said.
“We’ve had a lot of support, and we’ve had a lot of negative reactions,” he said. “It doesn’t bother me. If people want to hear the story, I’m going to tell them.”
• Yakima Herald-Republic reporter Phil Ferolito contributed to this report.
E-mail
Print
Comments
"The boy’s father said he contacted the media after repeatedly calling and e-mailing school and school district officials earlier in the week".
I have one question for this father..."What were you thinking when you contacted the media"????? Are you nuts or what??!!!!
This should have been kept quiet no matter what! This is your child everyone is now talking about! This is not something that should have "NEVER" been exposed for public comment or scrutiny. As always....the child always comes out the looser and as far as I'm concerned the parents should be ashamed of themselves!!!!!
"Move forward from this"
Maybe this should not have gone to the media??? Granted the teacher should not have done this but likewise for the health of the child this should have been kept between the school and family.
Sure like it's just that easy to move on after someone has disrespected your child in that matter. True i probably wouldn't have gone to the media but that teacher shouldn't have her job right now because of this. I would like to know just how close she followed this little boy around to "know" it came from him. There are plenty of children that still have accidents at that age here and there. That doesn't mean he needs to be picked on just because he had a couple accidents before and he sure didn't need to be singled out. The whole incident just makes me livid. I am a firm believer that a teacher can either make or break a child. We trust these people to help educate our kids not embarass or humiliate them. Well at least her name was on the news enough to make other parents in the future reconsider whether or not they want to trust someone like her with their kids. I sure wouldn't. I am on the side of the boy and his parents. What she did was wrong!!!!!
Report Violationwell i don't know the whole story or why she sent him home w/ a bag of fecies. granted this was not dealt w/ using the proper channels. but i have a huge soft spot for teachers b/c they have to put up with the crap that as parents we are not teaching our kids. i hear to many horror storys from teachers about kids just not caring about rules or morals because they know that there are no reprocusions for their actions. i think it is disrespectful to teachers to ridicul them all for something like this. the last comment made absolutly infuriates me. i think its time for parents to grow up and start doing THEIR job. its called parenting!!!!!!!!!!
Report Violationthis is typical of our city sweep it under the rug and everyone will forget it i read that the teacher still has her job shame on the school district for there lack of importance that child has to face the kids his peers after this humiliation she should be fired for such disturbing behaviour
Report ViolationGo to the WVSD's own web site and look under Kindergarten :"Critical Skills for School Success". Count how many "Social Skills/Self Help" rules this teacher broke that she expects a five year old child to follow !! Her action was disgusting and deliberate. The student's action was an accident. Since she can't follow these rules----she should be fired !! She obviously isn't "developmentally ready" for Kindergarten !!
This teacher has a long history of problems like this!
I do know why she does it and I also know how she still has a job!
she could care less about teaching anything to anyone but she needs the money that she makes as a teacher because she is used to living way above average. she has a job because she has a union that helps her keep it. if the district fires her she will sue and the father had to go to the media becuase that is the only way that you can get any respect at all from the public school system. I hope you enjoy being a taxpayer because the amount we owe just went up, after the father wins his money from the school district because of what the teacher did I just hope we will have some left.
I wonder how some of these people will make a living after they have to get a job in the private sector.
Yes, she should lose her job maybe it would be a wake up call to the other teachers.
I will make one other comment, I was able to afford private school for my kids, what a difference it makes when the school knows that they work for you. It was very hard to pay for it and we had to give up many things but I know with all my heart when I see and talk to my kids today that it was worth every penny I spent. The first mistake we make as parents I think is believing that the public school system cares about us and our kids.
"It’s humiliating what she did, to my son and our family.”
The why did he call the newspaper, of all things? Now, the "humiliation is complete. If he really cared for his kid, he certainly wouldn't have done this. Sounds like the parent is on a revenge trip for something that HE was humiliated by, now his kid is dragged in too.
On the other hand, I would say that Kindergarten is certainly the wrong assignment for the teacher if she can't handle kid issues better than this.
Let's face it, teachers should not have to follow the kids around with a pooper-scooper. It's not their job to toilet-train these kids - that's a "parent" thing.
Did she handle it poorly? Probably. But what's she supposed to do? Leave it there? Draw a chalk outline? Call hazmat? What?
By her actions she gave credit where credit is due and got their attention. Dimwit Dad called the paper and, of course, the H/R sniffed out the story. Now the kid has to live with it. Kudos all around...
she won't talk?? She knows she screwed up, that's why. stupid idiot, she should be fired.
Report ViolationFunny how the district wouldn't even respond to him until he went to the media. Suddenly they're taking all kinds of action and "taking it seriously."
Unfortunately for the child in this case, that's what it usually take to get bureaucracies to do something. I'm sure they hoped the problem would just go away.
As a mother of a 5 year old son who is entering kindergarten this fall, and at Apple Valley. I was speechless and heartbroken about this story. I don’t care what the teacher’s defense or reasoning are behind her actions. They were wrong. Anyone who physically or mentally abuses children should not be involved in the upbringing of children. She did not teach this child anything positive about life; instead she showed him how cruel the world can be. This is not about how many accidents he had, it was an accident. Would this teacher do this to an elderly person who has an accident?
This is a child, a precious gift of life, he is someone’s son, a brother, nephew, grandson, or cousin. He deserves to be treated with respect, to be able to go to school and feel safe and secure.
I strongly feel that she should lose her job, and be required to attend sensitivity training classes and issue a PUBLIC APOLOGY! The school district should not tolerate her behavior. I thought the schools have a no tolerance policy for issues such as violence, or bulling? I think that this falls into one of those categories.
Furthermore, if I was a teacher, especially at Apple Valley, I would be very upset that someone would taint my profession the way she has. Shame on you Ms. Graham.
It is funny that everyone is assuming that this kid is a perfect angel. Maybe the district did not respond because the dad is always there complaining about things. Maybe the kid is a pain in the @#$%. I am not saying what she did was right but maybe she has to deal with this kid every day and is sick of it.
As for teaching because she needs the money. Do you know what teachers make? Doesn't everyone work because they need the money?
There are a lot of parents out there who think that thier kid can do no wrong. There are kids out there who get in trouble EVERYDAY at school and the parents do not want to deal with it. If teachers and schools could spend thier time teaching kids instead of dealing with problem kids our society would be better off.
Report ViolationSo summertimeblue. Does that mean that because this kid is a "trouble maker" he deserves what he got? That is a seriously immature comment or punishment to give or make about a 5 year old! I wonder, do you have children?
Report ViolationHe did what any parent would do if they got no response from the school. Regardless if the kid is a pain or not what the teacher did was wrong.
What if this was your kid???
I said what the teacher did was wrong. Yes I have 2 kids with one on the way and if something like this happened the last thing I would do is contact the media. I would camp out at the school until I got answers. The article makes no mention of what contact was made. Did he call once? Did he show up at the school? Maybe he sent an e-mail?
so mommabrandy, no I do not think this kid got what he deserved IF he is a trouble maker. I said it was wrong of the teacher more than once. It was also wrong, IN MY OPINION, for the father to contact the media.
This teacher was my grandsons teacher last year. My husband and I spent some time in the classroom and found this teacher to be delightful. In our opinion she was gentle and sensitive while being firm enough to maintain a learning environment for her students. It has been stated that this little boy spent half of his day in a special needs class and half of his day mainstreamed in Mrs. Graham's class. It is my opinion that the school district failed in this situation. They should have provided an aide for the time he was in in Mrs. Grahams class.It is great to mainstream special needs kids but you can not expect a teacher with 30 plus students in her classroom to deal with toileting issues.
Report ViolationYour comment "I am not saying what she did was right but maybe she has to deal with this kid every day and is sick of it." is confussing. If you say that it's wrong, why defend her by giving an excuse to why she would had done it? Maybe she was tired, didn't get enough sleep, maybe she had a tragedy in the family, okay, so that understandable, but it is still an excuse. As a parent I would not accept an excuse.
I am certain that if a parent was camped out at the school it would have drawn just as much attention. So in that light, I am not sure how that would have been any different then him contacting the media.
However, I'm not interested in how or by what means the Father went about getting answers, I am concerned that people are overlooking the severity of her actions and are giving her support.
The REAL issue is why would a teacher do this and what is the school district going to do about it???????
You know what? You are right, I am wrong. You are smart I am dumb. Thanks for clarifing that I will sleep better tonight now that I have been put in my place.
Report ViolationAlso as for camped out, I meant figuratively not literally. I would be down there every day until I felt the issue had been properly taken care of.
I would not set up a tent, get out my camp stove, build a little camp fire, roast some marshmallows
This is insane..listen to yourselves...
"NO DOUBT ABOUT IT" the teacher handled this wrong, this we all can agree on...but...do we now have to distroy this teachers life? Thirty years shes taught school. If this teacher was as bad and as horrible as everyone is now making her out to be, she would have never lasted this long teaching in the first place. We've become a society of mean spirited nasty non-forgiving people and it's going to be the un-doing of us. Some of you have probably done worse things to your own kids than what this teacher did with sending this stupid turd home in a back pack.We wonder why kids act so crazy when parents act the way they do? Get a grip people!
lifeanew -
You make some serious acusations here.
"she could care less about teaching anything to anyone but she needs the money.....she is used to living way above average."
Do you know this teacher personally? Is she your neighbor? Do you know exactly where she lives and that she in fact lives "way above average", or do you assume this because she's a teacher? Based on the rest of your rant, this sounds like an aspersion cast at teachers in general. After all, they have a union, and that in itself makes them worthless, right?
This is classic...
After speaking to a few people about the incident, it looks like the teacher has been documenting this problem since the school year began. The school and the parents both failed to handle this appropriately. I'm not saying what she did is right, but when you've tried over and over again to get an issue solved... well... I guess she felt that she had to get someone's attention. LOL. Looks like it worked.
I can't say that I would know exactly what to do when another kid in the class rolls up to me with a turd in their hand and says "so and so" pooped in the classroom again. I don't think I would have put it in a bag and sent it home, but enough is enough.
Looks like the moron parents got their wake up call... By the way, great job hanging your kid out to dry by contacting the media. I'm sure this will work out great for the kid. They'll never put 2 and 2 together and the next school when the kid craps on the floor the first day there...
Hey! With this newfound celebrity maybe the Dad can get a guest spot on some late night show.
I can see it now: "C'mon Johnny! Poop for Mr. Letterman!"
He sacrificed his son for media attention. That is SO wrong on any level.
It's bad enough parents blame the teacher because "Johnny can't read". Do they really have to blame them because Johnny can't use the toilet?
That's just absurd.
I do many things to make a living, but I made about 35k my first year in teaching not counting all the perks, I was making better than 40 by year ten, 50 or so, now in my 16th year, I only work 9 months a year not 12. I enjoy teaching and really don't understand those who don't. I speak with the ones that think that they are underpayed and have all thier other problems and do wonder why they don't go do something else with thier life if things are really that bad with what they do. I am sorry, I just remembered what it is, the reason that is. The reason is that they would have to give up so much in order to do something else for a living. How about that! I am grateful that I have a union that will protect me if I decide to send some poop home to someone in their back pack. I am greatful that I was able to send my kids to private school to avoid all the people that had a degree but did not know what they wanted to do with thier life so they decided that they would become a Teacher. I am also very greatful that I have never had to work in the private sector and that I have been able to do what I do best and want to do more than anything in the world that is to teach an mentor young people like I was mentored by a great teacher when I was young. I am deeply shamed that someone that calls herself a teacher would mentor someone by sending poop home to that kids parents and if you call yourself a teacher and are defending that pearson that calls herself a teacher then maybe you should go as well, Maybe I am wrong and you are right maybe I should take early retirement and do something else. I am sure glad that I have that benifit becuase it is one of the perks of being a teacher, but boy we sure have it bad when compaired to the general public. respond all you want I won't be here to read it. I still cannot believe she did that to someone. it makes me sick and really sad. it makes me wonder what is wrong with the teachers of today.
Report Violation
Posting Guidelines - Updated Aug. 21 2009
Readers are encouraged to use these forums to discuss issues affecting the
Yakima Valley. Debate the ideas presented in stories and other comments, but
refrain from personal attacks and offensive remarks aimed at others; e.g.,
you may call an idea idiotic, but don't say the person is an idiot. The
Herald-Republic reserves the right to remove any comment for any reason.
Examples include material that is obscene, encourages illegal activity or
stereotypes based on race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs and
other factors. Continued violation of these guidelines can lead to
suspension or revocation of your ability to post comments. If you believe a
comment is inappropriate, you can bring it to our attention by clicking the
"report violation" link by each comment. Guidelines revised Aug. 21, 2009.
Registered User?
