Amber and Michael TilleyA Texas school has recently come under fire for an incident in which two school officials forcibly bathed a third grade boy at school. A counselor reportedly told him he "smelled badly, was dirty, and had bad hygiene," and then marched him to the school nurse's office where they took it into their own hands to remedy the problem.
According to NBCDFW, his parents say the 8-year-old was forced to strip naked, then they "began violently washing his body." His parents, Amber and Michael Tilley, are suing, and while I hope the school officials are punished for what was clearly wrong behavior, it's the boy at the center of it all for whom my heart breaks in so many ways.
First, it's tragic that he was ever in such a situation that his body odor would be called into question. I have an 8-year-old boy, and let me tell you, they get smelly fast, and they have no clue. That's why his father and I insist that he bathes regularly, even if he balks. It's our job as parents to make sure he learns good hygiene, and if you're not getting close enough to your kid to know if he's practicing it or not, that's a problem in and of itself. So the fact that this boy was going to school in a manner that clearly was offensive is incredibly sad, and you have to wonder about his home environment, even if they claim he had no problem.
Then, of course, there's the trauma he surely endured from being not only forced to stand naked in front of school officials, but from being told he stinks. The situation could have been handled in so many other, better ways. As it was, the parents reportedly were never notified that there was a problem. Michael Tilley told the station:
The first thing I said was, "You ought to try to call us." And they said, "We were trying to avoid him being embarrassed." And I said, "You all did a real good job of helping that process along."
The humiliation he must have felt is unimaginable. His parents say it's affected the boy greatly, and I can't imagine that it wouldn't. Amber Tilley said: "He just kept on and on, wanting to take baths. You know, he just felt so disgusting."
The case is now in the court's hands, where they'll decide if the family is awarded any money. I'm not sure any amount is worth dragging this trauma out for the boy, which a court case surely does. I truly hope he's able to get the help he needs to deal with what's happened.
Can you imagine any case in which a school should forcibly bathe a child?
Image via NBCDFW
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Comments 31
C'mon, folks...this is TEXAS that we're talking about here! I moved down here 3 years ago with my son, and let me tell ya, the school system does whatever the hell they want to, and there's NO repercussions. The community blindly supports even the worst of the teachers and administrators, and they're LOUD about it!
Yeah, the school should've called CPS. And they should've just sent him home each time he came to school smelling bad. Maybe his parents house smelled bad too, and they are just accustomed to it. I have gone into many homes and seen many people during the course of my job that smelled bad enough to make me gag, and the folks living there didn't seem to notice, having grown accustomed to it. Maybe the school called the parents about this several times, and the parents ignored it because they can't smell it...
You said yourself 8 year old boys get smelly fast and then you question the parents...........makes no sense. I remember my brother at that age. He could go a whole 2 days without bathing and smell like it had been months. Either way, this is illegal and uncalled for. Poor kid :( To answer your question, no, no child should ever be forcible washed by anyone but their parents.
Their first step should have been to contact the parents,then if the problem wasn't taken care of,contact someone else. They had NO right whatsoever to make him strip and bathe him. I would think that would be a form of molestation. I know it would be illegal to force an adult to strip and to scrub their naked bodies.
I don't agree. Why didn't his parents make sure he didn't stink or did he just have gym? Boys can get pretty smelly and someone should tell him. Perhaps they should have called the parents to take him home but he definitely needed to be told to take a bath.
"He just kept on and on, wanting to take baths..." . Gee lady, you say this like its a bad thing...
If he was that filthy they should have called the parents and possibly contact the social services. To bathe him at school was extreme and how did they have a bathtub at an elementary school? This child had to be bery embarassed. I worked in public school for a number of years and sometimes parents are extremely negligent but this seems extreme.
illegal
I don't care how smelly a kid is, NOONE has the right to make a kid strip and bathe at school. If the school had contacted the parents and nothing had changed, you make the next call, CPS. I'm not one to say "call CPS" as I think it's about the most useless organization, mostly because I have seen kids taken from their homes for the most asinine reasons while children who are truly being abused and neglected are let to rot in their own personal hells. That being said, it is the next logical step to take if/when the parents choose not to make the changes needed to rectify the situation. According to the parents, the school NEVER contacted them, so why would they even think it's an issue?