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Teacher Suspended for Allegedly Making Kids Scrub Toilet
Filed under: In The News
All clean! Credit: Getty Images
Outrageous, right?
You shouldn't have to scrub toilets that hard until you're an adult.
The London Daily Mail reports Catherine Saur, an art teacher at Kennelly Elementary School in Hartford, Conn., allegedly has some cleanliness issues. Whenever one of her students had to use the potty, she supposedly made the child clean the porcelain. Thoroughly.
This went for two years, the Mail reports, until some parents had enough. Now Saur is under suspension while school authorities investigate parents' complaints.
Those complaints include horror stories of kids peeing their pants to avoid going to the bathroom and one child who suffered a severe allergic reaction to the bleach he was required to use to clean the toilet.
That child's mother was incensed that her boy was ordered to clean a toilet.
"That's the custodian's job," the Daily Mail quotes her from a meeting at the school.
School district spokesman Dave Medina tells the Daily Mail the district doesn't comment on personnel matters. Saur declines to comment.
Not everyone thinks Saur is a heartless fiend. The Daily Mail reports PTA Secretary Nancy Moreaux spoke poetically in defense of Saur at the same school meeting.
"If you sprinkle when you tinkle," she said, "please be neat and wipe the seat."
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ReaderComments (Page 2 of 5)
5-27-2011 @ 5:01PM
alsnana said...Do you scrub the toilet every time you use it?
6-02-2011 @ 4:15PM
Princess said...@Ace, I'm not sure where you are, but in Nevada, California, and most other places I know, elementary school goes from kindergarten to 5th grade. Over sixth grade is junior high. Eighth grade is at the end of junior high.
5-27-2011 @ 3:10PM
oralborealus1 said...Cleanliness is next to Godliness! the teacher should be Commended Not Suspended!!
Reply
5-27-2011 @ 5:25PM
Julie said...Scrubbing a toilet is the custodian's job, and I'll bet the costodian wears gloves and uses a long handled brush to do the job. There's a reason other schools/teachers don't do this to kids: it's barbaric. Make her scrub the toilets if she's so anal that she thinks it needs to be scrubbed after every use!
5-27-2011 @ 5:54PM
whosoeverwill said...you are such a liar...no such thing...cleaness is next to godliness...where did you get that from...and what does that have to do with the abuse the children suffered...the thief has been exposed...Thank God for the children that told...
5-27-2011 @ 8:04PM
janice said...I'm a janitor and believe me the adults that I clean up after would no more clean up their own sprinkles then the man in the moon would. I'm appalled that a teacher would expect this of little children. They have no business doing that kind of job. I would have never had my own kids clean the toilet until at least 10 to 12 years old, no less a schools. That is what my job requires of me. I am paid to do it. These children are there to learn not clean toilets.
5-27-2011 @ 3:16PM
Myrna said...I am a great grand mother, I taught my children to clean up after them self....and they taught THEIR children the same...however, to clean up a SCHOOL toilet when they are children..........that is crazy. If this teacher has such an issue with "clean toilets" she chose the wrong profession....working with children.
When i was in school............yes, wayyyyyyyy back in the 50's....there were janitors whos job was to keep the school clean. No, we did not take advantage, but again,the janitor chose that job for his career...........
If this teacher did this to my child, I would be at that school the very next day! And I am NOT "todays parents who want to protect their angels". I am just a women who says...............What the HELL is happening in our schools these days? Drugs, Teachers who swear at their students, teachers who tape the kids mouth shut, teachers who..........well the list goes on. Not to say there are not GREAT TEACHERS who go into that profession because they REALLY CARE about children and helping them become wonderful, intelligent adults..............but THIS teacher..........is....(well YOU fill in the blanks. This is just ....my personal opinion.
Reply
5-27-2011 @ 3:26PM
Raindropo42o said...How could this go on for two years? School is for learning and there are people who are paid to clean.
She should have been punished once one of the kids was injured. Allergic reactions are a very serious issue and we don't know if this is the first time.
I would understand if maybe a child had damage the toilet and she was having them clean up as a punishment but thats not the case.
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5-27-2011 @ 3:30PM
speaker said...tar, and feather her.............wait give her a raise.
Reply
5-27-2011 @ 3:32PM
Nhnavi said...I went to an elementary school where there were no custodians, every kid had a cleaning responsibility. and I'm 23, so its not like that was a long time ago. Kids should be taught responsibility, (i mean if the claims that children had to scrub until their hands were raw, or made to use cleaners they were allergic to is true thats messed up) But no one really teaches their kids that anymore. Its really a shame.
Reply
5-27-2011 @ 5:38PM
alsnana said...You don't know that. You don't know me or my children. Don't you dare say "No one really teaches their kids that anymore" The real problems are people like you going into teaching.
5-27-2011 @ 3:32PM
Connie Anderzunas said...Is it just me or are teachers getting nuttier all the time. It seems that every week we get yet another story of a teacher going off the deep end at the expense of the children entrusted to their care? They never get fired and it seems they pull these stunts in order to get a paid vacation away from the classroom.
Reply
5-27-2011 @ 3:41PM
AzTmblweed said...Oh look, someone who speaks like they have no children. Most of your cleaners say "Keep Out of the Reach of Children" for a reason. Kids aren't always old enough to say to themselves "This has bleach in it so I need to turn my face when pouring this into the toilet so it doesn't splatter bleach into my eyes and may blind me. Not to mention shorter arm reach, shorter so face is automatically closer to the bowl, being taught how important it is to clean the chemicals off your skin. Most parents will teach these children these things when they feel their child is responsible enough so they can do it safely. However, if these children are 5 or 6, then that is taking unnecessary risks just so Ms OCD could keep a job she probably should not have in the first place. I cannot think of too many places you would find more germs than an elementary school!!
Reply
5-27-2011 @ 3:42PM
doxienestewart said...Yes, my husband and I, and our 2 children, all learned bathroom manners. However, my 83 year old husband sometimes fails to wipe the rim of the toilet or even notices an occassional wet spot on the rug around the base. There is no way I would embarrass him by bringing this to his attention. This probably happens when he gets up during the night. I'm just glad I still have him after 63 years of marriage. No, when we went to school back in the 30's and 40's, we did not have to clean the toilet at school or any public place. We had janitors to do that.
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5-27-2011 @ 3:54PM
Melody said...Really my kid goes to school to learn to read & write not to clean,teaching cleaning is the parents job to do at home. Its ok to ask if they splash to wipe it up,but how much classroom time are they missing if they are made to scub toilets?
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5-28-2011 @ 8:07AM
Robert said...This moron should NEVER EVER be allowed near children again and should be locked up in an insane asylum for the rest of his natural life. IIf he should have happenned to make one of my kids clean toilets his lifwe would have been ended much sooner.I can practical garauntee that. I would have cleaned every toilet and every portajohn in the school with his face before i broke all his fingers and ripped his toungue out of his mouth. What the F**K was he thinkin. And that secretary.......ain't she a doozy?
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5-27-2011 @ 5:45PM
Fred Sanford said...My,my,my.....Aren't we the tough guy?! Bet your real name is Billy bad ass. LOL!
5-27-2011 @ 8:23PM
Rick Eaton said...Wow Mr. tough guy. Your spelling and sentence forming is PROOF that teachers are to lax nowadays. You should have never been promoted to the 4th grade, if you ever were. It is really hard for me to take any stock in what is said from someone like you, when you can`t even spell simple words, like guarantee & life. If you want any validity in what you say, proof read what you say for now on. Have a nice day.
5-27-2011 @ 3:56PM
max831 said...There appears to be many holes in this scenario. First of all - is there gross embellishment on either party in terms of what actually transpired? Also - I agree about the bleach situation, that is pure insanity, especially without gloves. I believe the individual that had his hands "burned" while cleaning with bleach was about 15, but that is not the point, this really should not have been handled in this manner no matter how sloppy the children are. I agree with teaching children proper etiquette and hygienic practices, but this seems a little over the top. I will be curious to see how this plays out, something is going to come out that is not being told at this particular juncture. I feel sorry for all concerned, apparently the teacher has issues, and the children were probably tramautized by this as well.
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5-27-2011 @ 4:02PM
Angie said...TWO YEARS? I'm sorry but if my kid and I can bet somewhere in that two yrs someones kid did complain I would have contacted that school immediately!
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