Category: News and Views
Poop prank leads to uproar
By J. TODD FOSTER and MICHAEL L. OWENS
The News Virginian
Thursday, March 23, 2006
A student who defecated in a lunchroom bowl triggered a series of events
that culminated in the recent walkout by four workers in the Fort Defiance
High
School cafeteria, The News Virginian has learned.
In all, five students were suspended or expelled from the Verona school -
including two whose mothers worked in the cafeteria and who were defending
their
mothers’ honor.
It all began Feb. 9 when two Fort students - including a guidance counselor’s
son - bet a third student $15 he would not defecate in a bowl.
That student took the 5-ounce Styrofoam soup bowl to the bathroom and
returned to the cafeteria, then placed the excrement-filled bowl on the
conveyor belt
that hauls empty dishes to the kitchen.
The News Virginian confirmed the incident, which school officials refused to
discuss, through three of the cafeteria workers and through the father of
the
boy who defecated in the bowl. That boy was expelled for the rest of the
year and will not be allowed back at Fort Defiance High, although he will be
allowed
to finish his senior year at another Augusta County school, his father said.
Four cafeteria workers walked off the job March 10, citing lack of support
from school administrators and uneven discipline for students. A fifth, who
tried
to break up a pushing match between her son and the guidance counselor’s
son, was dismissed at the same time. She has been charged with assault.
The cafeteria workers -who were replaced - agreed to be interviewed if
their names were withheld on their attorney’s advice. The News Virginian
also is
withholding the names of all the Fort students involved.
“The administration doesn’t treat people fairly,” said one of the cafeteria
workers, who spent 11 years in the school district. “It’s all in who you are
as to what you can get away with. We walked out because of the kids.
Something needs to be done. Sooner or later somebody’s gonna get hurt really
bad down
here.”
The worker said she called Principal Paul “Chip” Hill after discovering the
bowl of excrement. He laughed, she said.
“I said, ‘That’s not funny. I’m being serious.’ He said, ‘OK, I’ll have it
taken care of.’ Nobody from the administration came down,” the cafeteria
worker
said.
A janitor was called to dispose of the excrement, she said.
Hill, reached by telephone Wednesday afternoon, said he could not discuss
the issue but did not deny laughing.
“I can’t talk about,” Hill said. “It deals with students and personnel. The
issue already has been taken care of through the School Board.”
Augusta County School Board Chair David Shiflett said Wednesday he had no
knowledge of the incident, however.
“As the School Board chairman, I don’t think I need to know everything that
goes on in a school, day to day,” Shiflett said. He noted that only when
suspensions
or expulsions are appealed does the School Board deal with student conduct.
“This is the first I’ve heard of the [feces] incident,” Shiflett said. “I
hope you have your facts straight.”
The two students who paid the junior to defecate in the bowl were suspended
for three days each. After the incident, the guidance counselor’s son made
profane
statements to a cafeteria worker, whose son then confronted and pushed him
two weeks ago. The cafeteria worker’s son got nine days’ suspension.
Another worker’s son pushed the guidance counselor’s son for telling the
cafeteria worker to shut up. The worker’s son was suspended for three days.
But
his mother was charged with assault and battery of the guidance counselor’s
son after she got between them, and she lost her job.
The guidance counselor refused to comment but denied the feces incident
occurred.
“If you’re a top athlete or your mother works for the school system, you’re
treated differently,” an ex-cafeteria worker said. “If you’re a normal kid,
you don’t have a chance at all.
“… It’s all about who you are,” she said. “I think everybody must outrank a
cafeteria worker. People look down on cafeteria workers. We were treated
like
we were nothing. It’s always been that way under this administration.”
Augusta County School Superintendent Gary McQuain also refused to discuss
the incident.
“It’s a personnel issue … and a student discipline issue and I can’t discuss
that,” McQuain said. “I can say the cafeteria is operating well. The
[student]
count is back up and things seem to be going well.”
Mac McMahan, environmental health supervisor for the Central Shenandoah
Health District, said his agency was notified about the feces incident.
“They were advised to bleach all of the surfaces in the area that the fecal
matter came through,” McMahan said. “I certainly haven’t heard of any
illnesses
that came up after this, and I wouldn’t expect to.”
The health department does not have written guidelines on dealing with such
incidents.
“I’ve been doing this for 14, 15 years,” McMahan said, “and I’ve never heard
of anything like this. That’s certainly not behavior that’s normal at a
school.”
That's very funny, You'd have to be a serious person if you dealt with the situation, or else you'd probably burst into laughter when receiving statements. I never knew the extent of the power of exgrament