Child Charged For Wetting Pants At School

[Pat McCotter]

Child Charged For Wetting Pants At School

DANVILLE, Pa. -- A 12-year-old special education student in Montour County, Pa., is charged with disorderly conduct.

Authorities said she deliberately wet her pants at school. Her mother disagrees.

The child's mother told the Press Enterprise it happened because her daughter was frightened by the principal.
       
The girl had been preparing a holiday lunch with her classmates and teachers at Danville Middle School on Dec. 20. Her mother said when her daughter refused to go to the kitchen to wash some pots and pans, teachers summoned Principal Kevin Duckwork, who confronted the girl.

She then wet her pants.

Her mother said the girl is terrified of Duckwork and has wet herself during previous confrontations with him. But Danville Police Chief Eric Gill said school officials are at their "wit's end" with the girl, and they believe her actions were deliberate.

Police told the girl's parents they could probably avoid a fine if they agree to have the girl do community service.  

[aries]

wow

[Braddogg]

I've got quite a bit of experience with mentally handicapped adults (I spent four summers working at a summer camp for the mentally and physically handicapped).  I believe it's possible that the teacher/principal is right to say that the girl wet herself on purpose.  Is punishment or a fine appropriate?  Eh, I don't know.  But doing community service certainly doesn't seem like the answer . . . .  And it's certainly NOT something the government could ever hope to do properly.

[Michael Fisher]

Worthless one-size-fits-all government schooling strikes again. The victims of government education keep piling up.

People are forced into indentured servitude now for failing to do exactly what they're told. That's the point of government schooling, alright: Learn your place, or else suffer the consequences.

Homeschooled children have more intelligence and social skills than government schools could ever hope to impart, and this is one example of why.

[TEBON]

I've got quite a bit of experience with mentally handicapped adults (I spent four summers working at a summer camp for the mentally and physically handicapped).  I believe it's possible that the teacher/principal is right to say that the girl wet herself on purpose.  Is punishment or a fine appropriate?  Eh, I don't know.  But doing community service certainly doesn't seem like the answer . . . .  And it's certainly NOT something the government could ever hope to do properly.

I was taught in school that the whole release of bodily fluids during the time you're severely frightened is something that hollywood made up. . . ie:  the shitting of the pants. . . and the pissing of the pants.  Heard it in biology, I will not take questions lol

[error]

So "scared shitless" isn't an accurate description?

[Ruger Mason]

Will the mother respond in the obvious manner by pulling her child out of that school?  I doubt it.  No doubt that the government schools are the aggressors here and she and her daughter the victims of an evil crime by their hands, but if she doesn't do everything in her power as a parent to get her child out of that public school, she's morally complicit in her daughter's suffering.  Granted, she may be intellectually ill-equipped, as too many people are, to make that decision, and will hopefully benefit from the advice of a wise friend or relative.

[TEBON]

I'd love to urinate on the principal. . . then at least someone will get disorderly conduct and have EARNED it.

another reason why schools are just going to hell, and teachers/principals have a large chunk of this blame. (not that parents and students don't)

[toowm]

So "scared shitless" isn't an accurate description?

Reminds me of Bill Cosby's comments on mother's wanting their kids to wear clean underwear. Something like: "If you get into a car accident, you're not going to end up with clean underwear. Because first you say it, and then you do it."

The homeschooling of special-needs kids is a big issue. Most states (like NH) want some proof of achievement or progress, which can be problematic. Many, many parents put their special kids into the public system not because they want to avoid responsibility, but because they are hounded by the state (family services, cops) to conform.

It's a catch-22 for parents: They can give their kids greater love, more motivation, and better advancement at home, but they also double their chances of having the kids taken away.

[Atlas]

I thought a principal/bureacrapper would understand that you don't treat special needs kids like the regulars. Any normal child wouldn't want to undergo the emabarrassment of a pants-wetting incident. It's also weird why the school is making an issue out of this. I know some special ed teachers around my area and they are well compensated for their work, like 90k/yr. No excuse for this crap.

[Sweet Mercury]

I read about this recently on Digg.

If I had a daughter, I don't know what I'd do if a teacher called the police because she wet her pants. Probably something that would get me arrested for just talking about it.