My son was suspended for using the school loo; but he has a medical reason
"I don't get why schools think toilets are a privilege." Do your kids have this issue?
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The best excuse for kids to get out of class is, 'I need to go to the bathroom' - but this mum is standing by her son, who legitimately went to the bathroom -and then was suspended for two days.
Mum Sam Harry decided to keep her son at home after he'd been suspended for two days for going to the bathroom before his first lesson.
According to Sam in a now-viral TikTok, he was suspended for something which wasn't his fault.
"He went into school on Tuesday, used the toilet and went straight to the lesson," she says.
Explaining that her son suffers from IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), so has a toilet card to use at school because of this, the mum says the suspension is confusing.
The school has told her, "He walked around the halls for six minutes before his lesson."
But Sam knew better and asked them to check the cameras. It was clear the boy had been telling the truth.
"To make it even worse, on the way to the loo, he stopped to speak to a teacher, who happens to be the attendance teacher," Sam adds.
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"How can they suspend someone for using the loo?"
The teacher told her son to go to the late hall but agreed to let him use the bathroom beforehand. But after using the loo, he went straight to his lesson, not the late hall, so he wouldn't be late to class - which bizarrely landed him in even more trouble.
In protest, Sam says she kept him home for a third day. She didn't want him to be punished again for the same reason.
"I just don't get how they can suspend somebody for using the loo," she rages.
Parents and students quickly supported Sam and her son in the comments.
"I would report them to the school board as that's not on," one wrote.
"I don't get why schools think toilets are a privilege," another added in.
A third shared, "Exactly what happened to me. My school has now put glass doors on the toilet and locked the doors and can only use them at Lunch, not at the break."
And this mum agreed with Sam, writing: "My kids aren't allowed to use the toilet in their school unless it's break time, it's ridiculous."
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"This isn't the full story"
Not everyone in the comments empathised with Sam.
"I've been around the block enough to know it's not the full story, and you would believe anything he says," one person wrote.
And a second agreed by using a derogatory term: "Shock another 'Council House Mum' acting like she knows more than the school."
But Sam replied in a second clip that she didn't leave anything out of the story, and maintained her son did nothing wrong. She also shared what happened when she reached out to the school board.
"I've had a meeting with the governors and didn't seem to get anywhere. I was told to read the school's policies and procedures.".
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Originally published as My son was suspended for using the school loo; but he has a medical reason