Teacher Sends Note Home Telling Parents to Bathe Kids

[Shooby]

now.msn.com/buffalo-pre-k-teacher-sends-home-note-to-parents-saying-students-smell


Teacher sends note home saying her students literally stink
16 hrs ago


A pre-K teacher in Buffalo seems to have handled a delicate situation not so delicately. Parents of students at the Build Academy are outraged after the teacher sent a note home complaining that some of her students were wearing dirty clothes and smelling bad. "URGENT NOTICE!!!" the handwritten letter sent to all parents in the class read. After griping about the odor, the letter continued, "It is a health and safety concern. It also makes it difficult for me to be close to them or even want to touch them. Enough said."

Enough was apparently NOT said, because upset parents are now having their say, claiming that the teacher should have handled the situation dealing with just a few students in a less broad, shaming manner. The school board is mulling over the disciplinary action it will take. "Sending that letter home to all parents is offensive and almost shows a contempt for the children," Samuel Radford III, president of the District Parent Coordinating Council, told the Buffalo News. [

[Shooby]

Good for her! 

[busymom]

That reminds me of an exchange student that went to my college.  In his culture, men didn't bathe very often.  Unfortunately, you tended to smell him before you saw him.  Ugh!  Too bad, because he actually was a nice guy.  I was too shy at the time to say anything, but it would have been awesome if one of his male friends had taken him aside & told him he needed to shower more often.  And use deodorant. 

[Deleted]

NO IT WASN'T MY KIDS!!!! 

[swamp]

How is it shaming if everyone got the same note?

[zibazinski]

We usually made the school counselor deal with that stuff. But I remember washing the students clothes and having them wash up in the bathroom in the custodians room. Even in homeless shelters, there ar places to wash yourselves. This is just parents who don't care. Shameful. Guess what? Everyone in class got a note about head lice even thou one kid had it. That's how it works.

[zibazinski]

We had a professor from South Africa who made a big STINK about us terrible Americans who bathed daily. One of the football players mentioned loudly did it occur to him the reason no one sat anywhere near him was because he needed to emulate the country he was living in?

[Tennesseer]

Little kids can stink along with having head lice.

[Angel!]

Nov 26, 2013 9:21:11 GMT -5 swamp said:

How is it shaming if everyone got the same note?

Well, if I know it isn't my kid that stinks, now I know there is a stinky kid in the class & I probably can guess which one.  I probably wouldn't have know otherwise because I spend basically no time with my kid's classmates.

This should have been done in person with the parents in question.  I know that is much harder, but far more appropriate than letting the entire class know that there is a stinky kid. 

[Deleted]

I had this happen once. Not a note, but I had a third grader that smelled so bad she was getting teased. Turns out when I delicately broached the subject with mom there was no water in the house at the time... We did what we could to get her set up with services. But I kept a shower caddy of soap, etc in my room the rest of the year, the girl knew where she could go to wash up... Clean clothes were another issue... After the first load that mom brought me and yes, I actually ran through the machine at the school (that one didn't turn out the way I planned)... I don't know that they got clean often...

Sigh. 

[Deleted]

These are the kinds of things you don't think of when you get your Teaching Certificate, huh? 

[the flying reindeer]

There was no reason for the teacher to send out a note to all parents. Talk about overkill!! With head lice there is - "watch out for possible infection of your child." Lack of cleanliness only affects the child involved. It's not contagious, you know.

[zibazinski]

It may not have been just one kid and it is actually more PC to send the note home to all. Maybe some of the parents will check their kids for head lice as well as make an effort to clean them up.

[workpublic]

here's the problem

Samuel Radford III, president of the District Parent Coordinating Council

[Deleted]

Nov 26, 2013 13:30:53 GMT -5 the flying reindeer said:

There was no reason for the teacher to send out a note to all parents. Talk about overkill!! With head lice there is - "watch out for possible infection of your child." Lack of cleanliness only affects the child involved. It's not contagious, you know.

just a nit (LOL) lice do NOT like dirty hair....that's why one of the suggestions to help get rid of them is to use mousse, gel, hairspray, etc. in  your hair.  so having head lice has nothing to do with not being clean.

[EVT1]

Nov 26, 2013 9:05:57 GMT -5 Shooby said:

Good for her! 

Amen!  The guilty party will know who they are and the parents that have kids that bathe will toss it in the garbage.  Big freaking deal.

Not going to get too personal but I have had this fight with a lazy 13yo that even went to tricks such as running the shower and sleeping on the bath rug, wetting his hair in the sink, pretending to bathe, etc.  Could care less that they stink- then come home with Alfalfa hair.  Had to fight mom over it because the little angel can do no wrong.  I was pissed off and was ready to drag his ass out of bed early and soap him up Rambo style.  Leave the teacher alone.

[workpublic]

[Wisconsin Beth]

I'd have preferred the teacher have a word with parents of the odorific kids first.  And I have to admit, I haven't always bathed my kids as frequently as we should have and a couple of times they've gone to school smelly. 

[moon/Laura]

Nov 26, 2013 9:05:57 GMT -5 Shooby said:

Good for her! 

No, NOT good for her! I do understand the reason behind the note, and I would have no problem with it except for this part:

"It also makes it difficult for me to be close to them or even want to touch them."

Leave your editorial comments out and just stick to the fact that it's a health concern. Who the hell wants to hear that their child's teacher doesn't want to be near them or touch them? That part was extremely unprofessional and insulting. Is she entitled to feel that way? Sure, and I might too. But she didn't need to say it. That teacher needs to go look up the definitions of "diplomacy" and "tact" and apply them to this situation.

[zibazinski]

You're not supposed to get near to them, let alone touch them.

[moon/Laura]

Say what? How do you expect a teacher to work effectively with their students without getting close to them? Are you going to tell the kids "I'll help you with this math problem, but you have to stay 5 feet away from me while I do."? And I've never seen a teacher in the 7 yrs my son has been in school who *didn't* touch their students. A touch on the shoulder or arm is fine, IMO.

[zibazinski]

You're not supposed to touch students, period.  I'm not saying its right but its the rule. As far as stinky, breathe through your mouth.

[Spellbound454]

No you are not supposed to touch them.

Its hard for normal parents to imagine how a child arrives at school unwashed, unfed and in a state......but it does happen.
I can remember giving a child some spare clothes while I washed hers......and the nurse combed the nits out of her hair.
No point in talking to mum.....she was an alcoholic

Sometimes the "duty of care" means you have to alert the social services.......occasionally the police.

Not all kids have happy home lives.

[zibazinski]

Yup, and the "system" gives those kids right back to their unfit parents.

[mmhmm]

I don't think I would have handled it with a note to all parents.  That's just not the way I do things, but I'm not a teacher, either, so don't know the protocols that apply in that profession. I've just never liked a blanket-style handling of specific problems.  If I've got a stinky kid, I want to talk to the parents of that stinky kid, not the parents of all the kids.

[Deleted]

Nov 29, 2013 18:54:56 GMT -5 Spellbound454 said:

No you are not supposed to touch them.

It's kind of sad to be in such a way.

[jkapp]

I wonder if this could work the other way?  I had a few teachers in my past that had horrendous coffee breath (and probably cigarette breath mixed in too). 

I bet if a parent/student sent in a note to the school about an offensive smelling teacher, action would be taken.  So why not the other way around?

And you have to send the note to all parents...you're not allowed to single out any kids anymore, especially if its something that could hurt that child's self-esteem

[zibazinski]

It's been that way for a very long time. My bestest teacher friend was DDs K teacher and she said she had to take a class to learn how not to let her students even hug her and some of them need hugging so bad.    You actually have to turn a certain way to avoid the contact.  It is sad but too many teachers get accused of wrongful behavior. Some of these poor children who need hugs come from very sick homes who would jump on the chance to make a few bucks suing and ruining a teachers life.