grader asked the school system to discipline a teacher she says required her son to clean feces off the floor of a school restroom. Novelett Henry said that when her son Kevin, 6, told her that he had cleaned up "poop" in a restroom at Barrett Elementary School sometime in December, she immediately called the school.
School officials initially told her that Kevin was mistaken, she said, but they called her back later the same day and said that Kevin had volunteered to clean the restroom on four separate occasions last fall. Her attorney, Ted J. Williams, said school officials also confirmed to him that Kevin had cleaned up excrement.
An Alexandria public schools spokeswoman said she could not comment on the specific allegations because the school system is still trying to determine exactly what happened. In the meantime, Kevin will be transferred to another teacher's class on Monday at his mother's request, Williams said.
According to Henry, her son said that another child found the feces in the restroom and the teacher accused Kevin of putting it there. When Kevin denied it, Henry said, the teacher gave him paper towels and ordered him to clean up the excrement. Henry said she does not believe her child volunteered to do the cleaning or exaggerated the story. "I raised my son to tell the ruth," she said.
