The mother of a seven-year-old boy at an elementary school in Irving, Texas says her son wet his pants in class because he hadn’t accumulated enough good behavior credits to secure a trip to the bathroom.
The teacher at J.O. Davis Elementary rewards students for good behavior with “Boyd Bucks,” reports KXAS-TV5 in Dallas-Fort Worth. Her students can use the restroom outside of three scheduled breaks throughout the day, but the price of each trip is two Boyd Bucks.
Sonja Cross’s son was fresh out of Boyd Bucks on Thursday afternoon when nature called urgently. When the boy’s teacher denied his request to use the facilities, he sat back down.
“He tried to hold it as much as he could, but he just couldn’t,” Cross told the NBC affiliate. “He came home from school, and he was crying and really upset.”
“I was absolutely appalled,” Cross told the NBC affiliate. “I could not believe it.”
Cross initially took up her complaint directly with the teacher, who is reportedly in her first year with the school. However, Cross said, she wasn’t satisfied with the outcome of that conversation.
“Originally when I first spoke with the teacher, she was just going to show my son special treatment, but then I said, ‘That’s just not good enough. I need for you to stop this for all the children,’” Cross explained.
When Cross next complained to school officials, they reportedly instructed the teacher that trips to the bathroom should be free for all students, regardless of how many Boyd Bucks they may or may not have.
“It’s not a bad idea to have a reward program in the class, and they’re going to continue that,” Irving school district spokesperson Billy Rudolph told the broadcasters, “but not for the bathroom breaks.”
While school officials have said they won’t take any disciplinary action against the teacher, Cross said she could push for a suspension.
“I think that she had no concern for the children,” Cross said.