Special-needs student’s desk moved to bathroom at middle school in Washington

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BELLINGHAM, Washington (KOMO) —An 11-year-old Bellingham boy with special needs is furious that his desk was moved to a bathroom.

It wasn’t a prank.

His mother said that’s where his teacher thought would be the best quiet place for him to learn.

Danielle Goodwin said her son, Lucas, has autism and an auto immune disorder so he does best in a quiet place.

Goodwin said she talked it over with the teacher but when she brought her son to Whatcom Middle School on Monday, the solution was the bathroom.

“Sad, stressed, embarrassed,” said Lucas Goodwin. “I was like how is this happening? How am I in the bathroom? Why?”

The look of disgust is clear on Lucas Goodwin’s face in the photo his mom took when they came to school on Monday to find his new quiet learning place, in a functioning bathroom. The 11-year-old’s desk was over a toilet.

Danielle Goodwin said the teacher also gave him a camping mat to nap on the bathroom floor.

“I was stunned,” said Danielle Goodwin. “I was so shocked I just took the picture because I didn’t believe what I was seeing.”

When they found the desk in the bathroom, Danielle Goodwin asked if there was another option, she said the teacher said no.

Courtesy KOMO

“It’s not an appropriate place for anyone, but especially for Lucas with his PANDAS condition (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections), he can’t be around germs. That’s something that can really affect his body,” said Danielle Goodwin. “It smelled and just the thought of my son working his school day away in a bathroom was disturbing to me.”

She immediately took Lucas home and he said he doesn’t want to go back to Whatcom Middle School.

“ ‘Oh yeah, we’ll just put him in the bathroom, perfect space,’ that’s not OK. You don’t do that,” said Lucas Goodwin.

A spokeswoman with the Bellingham Public School told KOMO News space has been an issue at the school and the desk was set up last weekend.

The spokeswoman sent KOMO News a statement saying, “I can tell you that we are aware of the situation, and that we have taken immediate steps to remove the desk depicted in the photo and ensure that this space is not used as a learning space.

“While we aren’t able to share specific details about our students, we can tell you that keeping our students safe and engaged in learning are our top priorities,” she said.

Greg Baker, superintendent for the school district, addressed the situation Friday on the district’s website:

Many of you have inquired (regarding) a recent post on social media which has made some news reports. While we are limited in what we can share due to privacy laws regarding individual students, I think it is important to share as much as possible to ensure transparency and trust.

Since learning of this situation yesterday, we have been fact-finding in order to ensure we understand what occurred; that work continues. My assessment at this point is as follows:

We are all probably aware that state funding for schools is limited, particularly with regards to construction, and thus schools often have limited space to meet students’ instructional and social-emotional needs. We are always looking for creative ways to best use our facilities to meet students’ needs. For example, throughout the years in order to provide full-time kindergarten we have sometimes converted staff lounges into temporary classrooms and principals’ offices into meeting spaces.
This current situation is an example of staff trying to seek a solution to temporarily repurpose a room. To our knowledge, the room had been used as storage, not as an active restroom.
It didn’t turn out to be an idea that was used; no students spent time in the repurposed space as part of their school day.
Again, my preliminary assessment is this idea was well-intentioned, but in the end we did not move forward with it.

Our staff are incredibly skilled, compassionate and dedicated. They give of themselves every day to make our community better by serving all children, no matter what their individual needs are. Like all of us, including myself, our staff are not perfect. Together we show who we are in situations like this: we take responsibility, we learn and we commit to doing better.

Thank you,

Greg Baker

Source: eastidahonews.com