It’s common sense to say that when kids are young, they need extra supervision. One teacher apparently thought this wasn’t true, as she dropped the ball in a big way with one of her students.
What followed was the beginning of a cover-up from the school to keep the truth from one of their own employees.
A toddler was left alone in the bathroom at her preschool for 45 minutes, and the truth was kept from her parents.
A confused and concerned mom asked for legal advice on Reddit after her daughter was left alone in the bathroom for 45 minutes at school. An interesting twist was that this was the same school where the mom worked.
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“Daughter in Pre-K was left in a school bathroom while her entire class went out to play on the playground … for 45 minutes,” she said angrily. “She can’t even open the door by herself, and the only reason they found her after 45 minutes was that another student had to use the restroom. They found her on the bathroom floor crying hysterically.”
This understandably protective mom thought that family should have been contacted about the incident. And it would have been extremely easy to do so.
“Here’s the kicker — both my mom and I work at the school,” she revealed. “She was not taken to either of us. And there was a decision made by the teachers/principal to not share any of this info with me or [my] significant other.”
The mom has already noticed how this has affected her daughter. But because she didn’t know what had happened, she also didn’t know how to react.
“I raised my voice at my child last night because she had three accidents, and she is potty trained,” she explained. “She screamed and cried every time we [prompted] her to go to the bathroom. I had no idea she had been left in a bathroom alone for what she perceived as forever.”
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Now, this mom doesn’t know what to do at her job.
Since the mom who made the post works at the same school where the incident occurred, she is unsure of what to do now.
“I had a whole conversation with her teacher yesterday afternoon while picking her up and her teacher apologized for the glue she had got in her hair,” she said. “The glue in her hair — but not the fact that she was left alone in a locked room for 45 minutes.”
She continued, “And the principal had conversations with me both yesterday afternoon and this morning — but not one time mentioned this to me … I found out because another school personnel informed me.”
“This is my boss,” she added helplessly.
Since nothing has been done at the school to address what happened, the mom doesn’t know what she should do for her daughter or for herself as an employee.
This could be considered a case of child neglect.
The American Society for the Positive Care of Children explained the difference between physical child neglect, in which a child is harmed in some way and general child neglect.
“General neglect refers to the negligent failure of a parent or caretaker to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, medical care or supervision where no physical injury to the child has occurred,” they said.
They continued, “Leaving young children without supervision may constitute general neglect.”
While one could argue that this child was in no real danger because she was in a locked Pre-K bathroom, where nothing could really harm her, that doesn’t change the fact that she was left without supervision for a substantial amount of time.
Furthermore, her teacher didn’t even seem to be aware she was missing.
Action should definitely be taken, and if it isn’t, the mom may want to look for other options for her daughter and herself.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news and human interest topics.
