A Louisiana school official is accused of making a 6-year-old student clean her own feces after having an accident at school caused by a dairy allergy, authorities said.
Kristy Gilpin — an administrator at Rollins Place Elementary in Zachary — turned herself in to the Zachary Police Department on March 17 for an active warrant charging her with cruelty to juveniles, according to police records shared with McClatchy News.
The student’s parent — whom McClatchy News is not naming to protect the student’s identity — filed a complaint with the Zachary Police
Department in February, according to a police report. An arrest warrant for Gilpin was issued after investigators reviewed security video from the school showing the incident, where she is accused of forcing the student to clean up after having an accident, WAFB reported.
However, Gilpin’s attorney, John McLindon, told McClatchy News he thinks there’s been a “misrepresentation” of the situation. “This is not a case where the little girl accidentally defecated on the floor, and she was told to pick it up. She intentionally dropped feces on the floor and smeared it on the wall,” McLindon said. He said the young student was initially sent to the principal’s office to change after having the accident, but while the student was in the restroom, she deliberately made a bigger mess.
Then, Gilpin brought a box of wipes and helped show the student how to clean it up, McLindon said. “Think about it like this: in the cafeteria, if your kid accidentally drops his tray and food goes everywhere, you call the janitor, and they should clean it up,” he said. “If the kid intentionally drops his tray on the floor — flips it over on purpose — what do you do then?”
McClatchy News reached out to the Zachary Community School District on March 18 to confirm the status of Gilpin’s employment but did not receive an immediate response.
In a February statement, school district officials said they were investigating the incident, but believed the information circulating in the media to be “inaccurate and misleading.”
But the child’s mother said this is not the case. “My daughter is not a case of ‘misinformation’ — she is a real child who experienced real trauma due to a series of neglect, abuse and failures by the very people entrusted with her safety and well-being,” she said in a Feb. 16 statement on Facebook. She said her daughter — who has a documented food allergy — consumed something that led to a medical emergency causing the accident and was “humiliated” and “forced to clean her own feces.”
“The school’s actions were not only inappropriate but abusive, and the district’s attempt to shift blame and hide behind vague language about ‘misinformation’ is both insulting and infuriating,” the student’s mother said.
According to McLindon, Gilpin posted a bond of $25,000 March 17.
Zachary is about a 15-mile drive north from Baton Rouge.
source: https://www.wbrz.com/news/zachary-s...clean-up-own-feces-arrested-released-on-bond/
archive: https://archive.md/wip/8p2ba
Kristy Gilpin — an administrator at Rollins Place Elementary in Zachary — turned herself in to the Zachary Police Department on March 17 for an active warrant charging her with cruelty to juveniles, according to police records shared with McClatchy News.
The student’s parent — whom McClatchy News is not naming to protect the student’s identity — filed a complaint with the Zachary Police
Department in February, according to a police report. An arrest warrant for Gilpin was issued after investigators reviewed security video from the school showing the incident, where she is accused of forcing the student to clean up after having an accident, WAFB reported.
However, Gilpin’s attorney, John McLindon, told McClatchy News he thinks there’s been a “misrepresentation” of the situation. “This is not a case where the little girl accidentally defecated on the floor, and she was told to pick it up. She intentionally dropped feces on the floor and smeared it on the wall,” McLindon said. He said the young student was initially sent to the principal’s office to change after having the accident, but while the student was in the restroom, she deliberately made a bigger mess.
Then, Gilpin brought a box of wipes and helped show the student how to clean it up, McLindon said. “Think about it like this: in the cafeteria, if your kid accidentally drops his tray and food goes everywhere, you call the janitor, and they should clean it up,” he said. “If the kid intentionally drops his tray on the floor — flips it over on purpose — what do you do then?”
McClatchy News reached out to the Zachary Community School District on March 18 to confirm the status of Gilpin’s employment but did not receive an immediate response.
In a February statement, school district officials said they were investigating the incident, but believed the information circulating in the media to be “inaccurate and misleading.”
But the child’s mother said this is not the case. “My daughter is not a case of ‘misinformation’ — she is a real child who experienced real trauma due to a series of neglect, abuse and failures by the very people entrusted with her safety and well-being,” she said in a Feb. 16 statement on Facebook. She said her daughter — who has a documented food allergy — consumed something that led to a medical emergency causing the accident and was “humiliated” and “forced to clean her own feces.”
“The school’s actions were not only inappropriate but abusive, and the district’s attempt to shift blame and hide behind vague language about ‘misinformation’ is both insulting and infuriating,” the student’s mother said.
According to McLindon, Gilpin posted a bond of $25,000 March 17.
Zachary is about a 15-mile drive north from Baton Rouge.
source: https://www.wbrz.com/news/zachary-s...clean-up-own-feces-arrested-released-on-bond/
archive: https://archive.md/wip/8p2ba
