The Department of Education asked the WA Police to investigate allegations that a relief teacher had declined to let his students go to the bathroom, leaving them to wet their pants instead.
The Teacher of Year 5 students at Butler Primary School is accused of holding a special needs boy in a headlock and forbidding toilet breaks, the West Australian published on Thursday.
The Director-General of the Department of Education, Lisa Rodgers, reported on 6PR radio that the matter had been referred to the police and the Teacher’s Registration Board for investigation.
“This kind of behaviour is just not acceptable in our schools, so it’s going to be investigated and we’re going to deal with it she said.
The teacher is accused of telling students that it was not a right but a privilege” to go to the toilet, and ordering one to “write a persuasive essay to justify why he should go to the toilet.”
A student was also apparently not permitted to use a sensory fidget device as part of his behavioural management plan.
The incident report prepared by the school states that the teacher then reportedly “took hold of the student’s arm and put it in the headlock to pick up the toy,” the West Australian reports.
“I was screaming to stop and let go,” said the student in the incident report.
The mother of a student who wet his pants after being refused a bathroom break has taken her son to a school psychologist.
Another student seeking immunotherapy was reportedly refused a bathroom break because it was a “privilege not a right” to use the toilet.
The student is said to have asked the teacher 10 times in 90 minutes if he should go to the bathroom.
“I was busting, I kept asking to go,” the student said in the incident report.
“I wet my pants and started to cry.
“It was the worst day I’ve ever had at school.”
The teacher also said to the students, “Santa isn’t real” and made fun of Elf on the Shelf.
Ms. Rodgers said that she was “strongly disappointed” by the accusations.
“The children that come into our classrooms should feel safe,” she said.
“These are really serious allegations and this type of behaviour is absolutely unacceptable.”