Conroe ISD parents outraged after elementary teacher revokes bathroom privileges for her students

CONROE, Texas (KTRK) -- Parents are outraged after a teacher sent out a message to families saying she had revoked bathroom privileges for her class as a reprimand. As a result, several of the students wet their pants.

"Pure outrage," Amber Johnson, a mother of one of the students, said.

"That is uncalled for, unhealthy, and it's not going to happen," Joseph McCauley, a father of one of the students, said.

Parents at Bartlett Elementary in Conroe ISD are livid after a number of first graders came home smelling of urine. A note from the teacher that was shared with ABC13 said some students were playing outside of the classroom, so she revoked the bathroom pass privilege for everyone.

Johnson's daughter was in that class.

"These kids are traumatized and humiliated. They were made fun of. They were crying, begging, pleading, and asking multiple times to go to the restroom, and they were refused," Johnson said.

Johnson said she knows of a handful of students that wet their pants, and then, were forced to sit in wet, dirty clothes all day. Parents said they weren't notified until after pick up.

McCauley said his daughter is mortified after she peed in class.

"If I sent my child to this school smelling like that, they would call CPS and have me investigated and try to have my child taken away from me. 'So, how is it OK for my child to go to school clean, prepared, and come home smelling like that?'" McCauley questioned.

According to the Conroe ISD's code of conduct, it is against school policy to deny students access to a bathroom. In a statement from the district, they say a substitute teacher will serve the classroom while the teacher is under investigation and that the incident was "not indicative of the safe and loving environment we foster at Bartlett Elementary."

Parents also claim a teacher's aide was present but never intervened.

"I've already told her that if a teacher tells her, 'You can't go,' and it's an emergency, you walk out of class, you go straight to the restroom, leave the restroom, and go straight to the principal, and you tell the principal that they refused to let you go to the restroom and you need to call my dad now," McCauley said.

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