Media Stories Involving Children Being Denied Use of Toilet

The following are brief media summaries of cases of children who have been denied use of the toilet by caretakers and school policies that restrict children‘s use of the toilet. Accounts have been excerpted from news clips, legal cases, essays and biographies. Some of the original links to these stories no longer work, so have been removed. I have been unsuccessful at locating new links to the stories without links.

Tuesday, June 6, 2006 (Washington)
The Washington Post
How Bad Do You Have to Go? At Some Schools, It's Bathroom Breaks vs. Grades
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/05/AR2006060501491.html
Summary: Quote from the article, "Even though Daniel Thornton occasionally needed to go to the bathroom during his AP history course last year, he also needed a B on the midterm to maintain his grade. So he did what lots of students at Forest Park Senior High School in Woodbridge do in their Darwinian pursuit of academic success: Thornton endured a full bladder and instead hoarded his two restroom passes, which, unused, were worth six points of extra credit."

May 9, 2005 (North Carolina)
WNCT-TV 9
Student Instructed to Relieve Himself in a Cup
Click Here
Summary: An Onslow County, NC third grade boy was told to urinate in a cup when he asked to use the toilet after testing and was denied the right. The school policy forbids children from leaving the classroom "without an escort" until all classes are done testing. This incident occured in a mobile unit with "no restrooms, phones or hall monitors".
The article noted: "Administrators say a better solution would have been to simply go to the restroom with the entire group."

April 20, 2005 (Florida)
The Tampa Tribune
Police Say Girl, 14, Poisoned Instructor
http://www.tampatrib.com/ (Search Archives)
Summary: A Franklin Middle School seventh grader asked her music teacher to use the toilet and was denied. The girl, very upset, retaliated by pouring a toxic dry-erase board cleaner into the teacher's lemonade. The girl suffers from asthma and bladder problems and "school official know she needs to use the bathroom frequently". The 14 year old was arrested and charged with felony food poisoning. The teacher was "not seriously harmed'. Linda Cobb, school spokesperson, states this behavior was "out of character" for the girl. The article adds: "Cobb said the poisoning is a zero-tolerance offense and could result in (the girl's) expulsion or transfer to an alternative school." The article did not mention the teacher receiving any disciplinary action for denying the child the right to use the toilet.

May 14, 2004 (Pennsylvania)
Lancaster New Era
Hand Middle School restrooms locked, escort required
http://www.lancasteronline.com/pages/news/local/6639
Summary: Bathrooms at Lancaster's Hand Middle School are locked during classes reportedly due to vandalism to the newly renovated school bathrooms. Students must seek out monitors if they need to use the toilet. Although the article quotes the school spokeswoman as stating that children are not denied use of the toilet, parent reports to ChildAdvocate.org state that children are in fact denied use of the toilet in emergency situations or have had to wait up to 20 minutes for an escort to unlock the toilet in emergency situations.

March 31, 2004 (Ohio)
WKYC.com
Strong police presence at Cleveland's South High School
http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_fullstory.asp?id=17662
Summary: Due issues of fighting, false fire alarms and hallways problems, the Cleveland School District has taken "drastic measures" to curtail these problems, such as heavy police presence, longer classes and denying children use of the toilet during those longer classes.

October 3, 2004 (Missouri)
The Associated Press
The 8th Step Journal
Teen Reform Center Thrives, Despite Complaints
http://mysite.verizon.net/res0g8bp/the8thstep2/id87.html
Summary: Thayer Learning Center Boot Camp and Boarding School in Kidder, Mo. denies children use of the toilet, forcing children to wet themselves, among other abuses, according to a former staff person.

February 21, 2004 (New Jersey)
The Times
School changes toilet pass policy
http://www.nj.com
Summary: Lawrence New Jersey middle school revises school toilet pass policy which allowed for only 15 visits to the toilet per month, now allowing children to use their 15 additional library, locker and nurse passes for toilet use. Bathrooms will no longer be locked during classes and the $1. fee for a lost pass has been revoked. Parents are still fighting the bathroom use policy, stating children should have unlimited access to the toilet as needed.

February 20, 2004 (New Jersey)
MSNBC Deborah Norville Tonight
Limiting school bathroom breaks? Bad move by school officials in a NJ middle school
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4332004/
Summary: Lawrence New Jersey middle school locks school bathrooms and only allows for 15 trips to the toilet per month. Children are restricting fluid intake, expressing anxiety, and concerned parents are fighting back. Interview with child victim.

February 17, 2004 (New Jersey)
New York Daily News
Pee Rule is No. 1 Gripe at School
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/165190p-144672c.html
Summary: Discusses the Lawrence NJ middle school bathroom restriction case, which hit the national news wire. This article mentions that children’s need for the toilet is greater AFTER the designated toilet break lunch break, not during it.

February 16, 2004 (New Jersey)
The Times
Parents Attack Bathroom Policy
http://www.nospank.net/n-l50r.htm
Summary: Lawrence New Jersey middle school locks school bathrooms and only allows for 15 trips to the toilet per month. Children are restricting fluid intake, expressing anxiety, and concerned parents are fighting back. Children must pay $1. for a lost pass.

December 5, 2003 (Virginia)
The Virginian-Pilot
Doctors say it’s not good for pupils to "hold it in"
http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=63164&ran=122313
Summary: Discusses Dr. Christopher Cooper’s study finding that school teachers begin restricting children’s toilet use as early as first grade. Discusses the health risks. Includes a public poll, with 83% of respondents in favor of children using the toilet whenever needed in school.

October 29, 2003 (Ohio)
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Parent Protests ‘Sweatbox’
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/10/29/loc_whiteoak29.html
Summary: 12 year old boy allegedly was forced to spend two days in a sectioned off time-out area of a classroom that heats up to high temperatures due to the nearby windows, and was denied access to water and to the toilet. The boy’s mother, a child advocate, is protesting, stating this treatment is abusive and violate his rights.

August 11, 2003 (Iowa)
University of Iowa News Release
UI Study: Elementary Schools Need a Lesson in Bathroom Breaks
http://www.nospank.net/cooper3.htm
Summary: University of Iowa associate professor of urology, Dr. Christopher Cooper releases the results of a state-wide study finding that elementary school teachers restrict toilet breaks after kindergarten. Dr. Cooper discusses the medical risks of forced retention of urine.

February 11, 2003 (Texas)
Parents and Teachers Against Violence in Education
School Justice: Punish the Victim
http://www.nospank.net/cordero.htm
Summary: A letter from a mother of a 16 year old boy who was forced to urinate in a bottle in class after a female teacher refused to allow him to use the toilet and blocked him from running out of the classroom. Features written responses by professionals and readers.

January 30, 2003 (California)
KCBS 2 Special Assignment
Dirty Lessons
http://www.cbs2.com/specialassign/local_story_030201725.html
Summary: An undercover special assignment by KCBS uncovered locked bathrooms, insufficient numbers of available toilets and deplorable conditions in the bathrooms at 50 Southern California schools. This article discusses children retaining waste and feeling ill as a result. To quote the article: "Many kids avoid the contamination by refusing to use the bathrooms-- that can also make them sick. “I get stomach aches because I hold (it) in until I get home and I get really bad stomach aches because of it.” Pediatrician Rochelle Feldman: “They hold it and hold it and hold it and what they do is they change the muscle tone in their bladder and they end up getting urinary tract infections.” The kids get sick if they don’t use the bathrooms and they get sick if they do."

January 13, 2003 (Utah)
The Salt Lake Tribune
‘Tough Love’ Schools Meet Criticism, Suits
http://www.sltrib.com/2003/jan/01132003/utah/19692.asp
Summary: Allegations of abuse of adolescents detained at a Costa Rican behavior-modification school owned by a Utah company. Children who are brought to this facility are done so through a kidnapping-type procedure. Children allege sexual and physical abuse, and boys allege being detained in a prison-like compound with no access to the toilet.

August 27, 2002 (Michigan)
The Oakland Press
Mom Loses Kids After Girl is Found in Closet
http://www.nospank.net/n-j43.htm
Summary: Seven year-old girl locked in closet by her mother with minimal food and no access to the toilet.

August 6, 2002 (Florida)
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Broward officials want to fire teacher accused of being abusive
Summary: Keith Goodluck is accused of hitting a boy with a closed fist, as well as verbally abusing children, threatening to hit children and refusing to allow male students to use the toilet.

July 9, 2002 (Missouri)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Suit Says Mountain park Religious School Uses Barbaric Discipline
http://www.mountainparksurvivors.com/articles/SUITSAYS.html
Summary: A lawsuit is filed on behalf of a 17 year old boy who attended the religious Mountain Park Boarding Academy. His suit alleges that employees physically and psychologically abused children, limited boys to two 45-second toilet breaks per day during which they are watched and are harassed if they cannot urinate in this amount of time, stripped children naked and scrub them with wire brushes if they cannot retain bodily waste, deprived them of sleep and encouraged older students to abuse other students.

June 9, 2002 (Florida)
The Miami Herald /Herald.com
Girl refused Bathroom Pass May Sue Teacher
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/3429847.htm
Summary: A teenaged girl’s math teacher refused to let her use the bathroom, telling her, "If you can't hold it, you should be wearing Pampers.'' The child was forced to defecate in her pants.

February 12, 2002 (New York)
Gannet News Service
Police: Candor parents imprisoned children
Summary: Four young children were locked in their bedrooms for hours by their parents, deprived of food and no access to the toilet. Their windows were boarded up to prevent escape. The children were allegedly physically and sexually abused and were offered rotting food.

Spring 2001 (New York)
Student Press Law Center
High School Censorship
Vol. XXII, No. 2 - Page 39
Stink of censorship threatens to knock out story about dirty school bathrooms
http://www.splc.org/report_detail.asp?id=686&edition=18
Summary: Student reporters for the Francis Lewis High School newspaper were censored and barred from printing an investigative article on the problem of restrictions on school toilet use and deplorable conditions of the school bathrooms by school principal, Catherine Kalina. The student's article contained an interview with a Urologist that testified to the health risks of forcing children to retain their bodily waste.

March 3, 2001 (Florida)
Naples Daily News
Lawsuits against church school teacher accused of child abuse move forward
http://web.naplesnews.com/01/03/naples/d608265a.htm
Summary: Four year old boy subjected to physical abuse at school by a teacher, including being refused to use the toilet.

February 2001
Libertarian Party/lp.org
Public School pandemonium: My experience as a public school teacher
http://www.lp.org/lpnews/0102/schools.html
Summary: Teacher discusses the prison-like conditions that public school children must endure through their entire school lives, including being forced to ask permission to use the toilet.

Orphan: A True Story of Abandonment, Abuse and Redemption by Roger Dean Kiser, Sr. (2001)
Summary: Book documenting the life of Roger Dean Kiser, Sr. and his childhood history of abuse, abandonment, neglect and placement in a Florida orphanage. He described how boys were not allowed to use the toilet or get drinks of water without permission. If they tried to sneak to the toilet, or sneak water, they were beaten. He speaks of how the boys came to believe that this was normal, and didn’t realize that it was abusive, as it became their norm.

Talking Back to Ritalin: What Doctors Aren’t Telling You About Stimulants and ADHD by Peter R. Breggin, M.D. (2001)
Summary: This book on the oppressive conditions in school that lead to false diagnoses of “ ADHD” and subsequent medicating of children for conformity briefly makes mention of the fact that children have to sit in chairs without movement and raise their hands in order to use the toilet (page 330).

November 13, 2000
TIME
The Crisis of Foster Care
Summary: Foster child abused; tied up and not allowed to use toilet with out permission and escort.

February 11, 2000 (Alabama)
The Associated Press
Teacher In Urination Flap Jailed
http://www.nospank.net/n-f88.htm
Summary: A 13-year old boy is forced to urinate into a trash can in front of his class after repeated requests to use the toilet are denied by a teacher. After the child’s third request, the teacher reportedly told the boy he’d have to urinate in the trash can.

January 9, 2000 (California)
The Press Democrat
CYA Shifts from Rehab to Punishment
Summary: Adolescent boys at the state’s El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility were handcuffed to the walls of the prison gymnasium and made to kneel for three days or longer. Toilet use was regimented and infrequent, leaving children to sit in urine-soaked clothing.

Toxic Schools of Texas by Jordan Riak (2000)
http://nospank.net/tox-tx2.htm
Summary: Booklet documenting cases in Texas public schools in which children are beaten with paddles and denied toilet use: School principal requires children to recite the name of USA presidents in order to use toilet; mother removes son from school when teacher refuses to allow him to use the toilet; Dallas teacher beats boy with a paddle for asking to use the toilet; girl at risk for losing kidney for fear of asking to use toilet due to children being put on a "bad list" for using toilet.

Our Own: Adopting and Parenting the Older Child by Trish Maskew (1999)
Summary: The author mentions forced retention of bodily waste when discussing some of the traumas and abuses that adoptive children have suffered in their past, contributing to their severe acting out behaviors in their adoptive homes. She mentions that in orphanages, many children are forced to ask permission in order to use the toilet. She mentions that some children have been forced by biological parents to retain their urine, sometimes all night long, causing children to lose the natural pain signals of bladder fullness and the urge to urinate. She mentions an adoptive child who when he first came to his adoptive family, would wait almost an entire 20 hour period to urinate (pages 105-107).

January 20, 1999 (Massachusetts)
Mass.gov
School Bathroom Facilities Memorandum
http://www.mass.gov/dph/fch/schoolhealth/brmemo99.htm
Summary: Open letter to Superintendents of Massachusetts Schools and Boards of Health from David P. Driscoll, Ed.D, Commissioner Massachusetts Department of Education; Howard K. Koh, M.D., Commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Public Health and Louis Visco, Executive Secretary, Board of Registration of Plumbers, regarding the health risks to children of restricting toilet usage and locking school bathrooms, a common problem in Massachusetts schools.

Dangerous Schools by Irwin A. Hyman and Pamela A. Snook (1999)
Going to the Bathroom: Right or Privilege?
Summary: Book chapter that discusses the problem of toilet use denial, including personal stories from young people.

The Lost Boy by Dave Pelzer (1997)
Summary: Book of child victim of severe child torture sentenced to juvenile prison. Recalling his first day, Dave Pelzer writes, "I... felt an urgent need to go to the bathroom- when I noticed there was no toilet in the cell."

A Child Called "It" by Dave Pelzer (1995)
Summary: Book of severe case of chronic child torture by mother, including forced waste retention. Dave Pelzer’s mother "filled his stomach with dish soap". He writes, "I cried out to mother... begging her to let me use the toilet (child was locked in the cellar)... she refused." Child had to relieve himself in a bucket.

Children Are People Too: The Case Against Physical Punishment by Peter Newell (1989)
Summary: Child advocacy book mentions case of a teacher in the UK who tied children to their seats and restricted toilet use to certain times of the day.

Death From Child Abuse... And No One Heard by Krupinski and Weikel (1986)
Summary: Out of print book detailing the severe case of fatal child torture by mother and mother‘s boyfriend, including forced waste retention. Ursula Sunshine Assaid was tied to a tree and forced to retain her bodily waste. One of Ursula’s murderers reports that as a child, his father drove him around all day in the car and forced him to retain his urine.

ComPortOne (undated)
The Killing of Self: Does my child have a good teacher or a bad teacher?
http://www.comportone.com/connie/articles/killself.htm
Summary: Essay by editor of CPO discussing school teachers who mistreat children in a variety of ways, including refusing a children’s requests to use the toilet.

Magazine for Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy (undated)
School Related Trauma
http://www.hypnos.co.uk/hypnomag/kouguel2.htm
Summary: Essay by Ph.D. discussing the traumatic aspects of school; includes discussion at the end of a case of a boy being refused the right to use the toilet, even with a medical note, because of a classroom rule in which boys were only allowed to use the toilet in the afternoon, and girls only in the morning.

Crisis in the Classroom: The Remaking of American Education by Charles E. Silberman (1970)
Summary: This is a classic from the wave of liberal school reforms in the late 1960’s, in an attempt to make schools more humane and conducive to learning. Silberman’s book may be the first to document forced retention of bodily waste in public schools. The book documents that public schools’ “ban on movement” extends to children not even being allowed to use the toilet or get drinks of water with out permission, and the time spent going to the toilet is “rigidly prescribed”. He was possibly the first person to document that many public schools lock their toilets during classes. He also documents an incident of an elementary school principal limiting toilet breaks to three minutes (pages 131-134, 337).

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