Forget about sitting in detention. Imagine being forced to clean a dirty toilet as punishment in school. If you can believe it, there are reports it happened in a NYC school, and now the Department of Education is investigating.
Word spread quickly at the In-Tech Academy in the Bronx. Students were allegedly forced to clean dirty toilets as part of their punishment for an undisclosed incident.
“They’re just children. They’re here to get an education, not to learn how to do janitorial work,” said John Happle, whose child attends the school. “It’s not a technical school, even though it says ‘In-Tech Academy.'”
Parents like Happle just found out about the bowl duty Monday morning. It reportedly took place over two days back in the fall, but it turns out at least a few students are familiar with the tactic.
“Our dean will make you clean the toilets if you do something to deface any part of the school, you know, something really bad,” said student Jason Vasquez.
As for the young offender’s reputation?
“[He’s] not what we necessarily call a well-behaved kid,” said Vasquez.
CBS 2 spoke with both parents and students who said they can think of a situation in which cleaning a toilet would be an appropriate punishment.
“It does teach them a lesson. I wouldn’t want to do it, but I don’t really care if anybody else does,” said freshman Shania Morris.
“If I tell you certain punishment could be judged very bad,” said parent Ramon Valerio, explaining that he could think of a situation where that might be OK. “It could be OK, yeah.”
CBS 2 tried contacting the principal Monday morning and we were directed to the spokesperson for the city’s Department of Education who said: “We are investigating. And if the allegations are substantiated we will take appropriate action.”
While it’s doubtful the unidentified administrator in this case will see their career go down the tubes, after hearing from parents, one big question remains: is toilet duty as punishment fit for any school crime?
(Source: WCBSTV)
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9 Responses
what counts is if the kid straightens out or not. Cleaning toilets is a part of life for average housewives, except JAP’s.
If it straightens out the kid, ok, if not, find a better method.
Well, if the kids are going to deface school property, then it’s a fitting punishment. If the school has to clean up your mess, then the offending kids should clean up someone else’s mess. One word – Accountabilty.
Great idea ! Infact, everyone should fire their cleaning lady and teach their children how to clean a bathroom so they will not turn out to be as spoiled as the average kid is today…..
When I was a kid I got into trouble in a certain camp (don’t ask me for the name) – My punishment was to dig a grave for shaimos. Very nice. Very educational…
i don’t think that something spiritual such as digging a grave for sheimos should be a punishment – that could give a child bad association with a mitzva.
you could have been being sarcastic but i couldn’t tell…
thats slightly repulsive to make innocent children clean out toilets.
No. 1 (lazerc): You wrote “JAP’s”.
Using that phrase has essentially the same effect as declaring “I’m an anti-Semite”.
If you don’t harbor an antipathy toward Jews, and don’t wish to offend and degrade them, you ought not to use that expression.
Well, I’ve heard about Jewish camps that have that in their activities and daily chores. While I do agree with some of the comments, children should be taught how to manage a household. They should be prepared to lead their lives and do housework when they grow older and have a home of their own. But it’s outrageous that children should clean up after others, no matter the crime. It isn’t appropriate and not hygienic. Assignments that’s educational and teaches the lesson is fine, cleaning up graffiti is a tougher but proper punishment.
#3, the there is a reason for cleaning lady’s. It’s that no one else has time to clean!!! THAT INCLUDES KIDS UNFORTUNEATLY!!!