"Pay to Potty" policy in classroom is all wet

[DrLeftover]

May 30, 2014

A Washington state mom vowed to take legal action after she said her child was forced to "pay" to use the bathroom in her third-grade class.

Merchon Ortega told Fox News' Andrea Tantaros that her daughter had an accident after a teacher denied her a bathroom break.

"She chose not to pay to use the restroom and she had to go so bad," Ortega said. "She said it hurt so bad that she just couldn't hold it anymore. She urinated on herself."

The teacher reportedly implemented a class reward system at Mill Plain Elementary in Vancouver that gave students fake money to spend at a class auction at the end of the year. Bathroom breaks were added to the system as a way to cut back on disruptions during class.

The Evergreen Public Schools District said in a statement that children were "never denied bathroom breaks if they needed one, regardless if they had sufficient 'dollars' in their account -- this was a decision made to use an already implemented money management learning system rather than introduce another method of dispensing discretionary passes."

Two parents filed complaints after their children wet their pants earlier this month. The district announced last Friday that after an investigation into the complaints, the teacher would not be disciplined.

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[Nebulous]

Kids need to use the restroom before school, during recess, at lunch, etc. They have plenty of opportunities during the day to use the restroom and they don't take them. I'll bet this student will take advantage of those opportunities to use the restroom in the future.

However, the teacher should have let the child use the restroom if it was noticeable that the child was in extreme discomfort.