A mother was shocked one evening when a Department of Children and Families agent knocked on her front door and informed her of an incident involving her young son at his school that she was completely unaware of.
The incident resulted in the principal of the school being placed on administrative leave. After learning about the situation, the mother was baffled that her son’s school did not alert her of what had happened.
The woman’s son wet his pants and was forced to strip naked before walking down the hallway to the nurse’s office.
Jessy Velasquez of Orange County, Florida is the mother of five-year-old Christian, who is on the autism spectrum but is described as “high functioning.”
She claims that while attending class at Shingle Creek Elementary School, the boy occasionally has accidents in his pants and she is usually alerted when it happens. However, on one particular day when Christian wet his pants in school, the staff failed to contact his mother. Instead, they made the child strip naked and walk down the hallway to the nurse’s office for a change of clothes.
The first time Valasquez or her husband learned of the incident was after a DCF agent showed up at their house and informed them of what happened to their son.
She claims that while attending class at Shingle Creek Elementary School, the boy occasionally has accidents in his pants and she is usually alerted when it happens. However, on one particular day when Christian wet his pants in school, the staff failed to contact his mother. Instead, they made the child strip naked and walk down the hallway to the nurse’s office for a change of clothes.
The first time Valasquez or her husband learned of the incident was after a DCF agent showed up at their house and informed them of what happened to their son
The mother told WFTV 9 News that the agent disclosed to her that security camera footage recorded by the school depicted a naked Chrisitan walking down the hallway. The principal then recorded a video of the surveillance footage with her own cell phone.
The footage was shared among other staff members before being destroyed. After the incident, the principal of Shingle Creek Elementary was placed on administrative leave.
The Orange County School District sent out a message to parents informing them of the principal’s leave.
“[She] has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation,” the message said. “I assure you, I take all situations involving our students very seriously.”
An Orange County Public Schools spokesperson declined to answer questions from WFTV 9 News regarding the principal’s leave and if it was tied to the incident involving Christian. “The district does not comment on personnel matters,” he said.
Velasquez is unsure why school staff forced her son to remove his clothes before heading down to the nurse’s office
When a child has an accident and soils their pants at school, educators are encouraged to handle it “casually.” They can offer the child a change of clothes, refrain from scolding them, and if they are able to get dressed independently, give the child privacy to change their clothes.
Valasquez shares that she is seeking the assistance of an attorney and is exploring her options on the legal system moving forward.
She had also called for the school principal to be permanently fired from the district, believing that Christian’s accident was completely mishandled.
“It takes me not even 10 minutes to get to the school, five minutes,” the mother reports. “I would have bought him clothes. So that’s where I’m like, stuck.”
