The actions of a teacher sparked massive outrage after she forced a 5-year-old boy to fish through a toilet clogged with feces using his bare hands in a school in Arkansas. When the little boy’s mother heard about the incident, she was horrified and urged for the termination of the kindergarten teacher for putting her son through this degrading ordeal. The moment she found out about what happened to her son, she immediately pulled the child out of the classroom with help from her mother.
“It’s degrading for a child so I don’t feel like any child should have to go through this,” the mother said. “They basically made him go in the toilet and get his feces and the dirty tissue out of the toilet.” “You want a child to put their hand in there physically and clean out the commode- no no no no no…” added the outraged mother.
Soon, the Pulaski County Special School District got involved and the incident was reportedly being investigated. The teacher, Karla Lassiter, was sent on administrative leave until further investigation. Although Ashley received a phone call from the teacher, the mother said it was not enough to make amends for what happened to her boy. “She got on the phone with me and she said she didn’t have an explanation, she just knew she was wrong. But she stated to the principal that she was trying to teach how not to stop up the toilet,” said Ashley while the boy’s grandmother added, “I told her that’s not good enough for me.”
Ashley spoke about what she hoped would happen to the teacher and said, “I feel like she needs to be trained, suspended or terminated or something because that’s unacceptable. I want my son to be in a safe environment, a good environment.” A GoFundMe page was set up to raise funds for the little boy after the incident and saw people donate $13,623.
The parent of another student of Crystal Hill Elementary School had similar things to say as she claimed her daughter was also made to dig through a clogged toilet with her own hands and pull out toilet paper. “This is a common occurrence at this school it seems,” said the mother, who did not want her identity to be revealed. Following the incident that took place in March, 2021, the latest update that was released by Pulaski County Special School District said a hearing would take place before the District Board of Directors before the final action about the teacher’s employment was taken.
“Since this incident remains a personnel matter, the District cannot comment any further,” the statement went on to say. “It is always our best intent to put the safety and well-being of our students as a top priority. The District will work to ensure that its mission of equity and excellence is upheld by all professional staff at all times.”