Fishy smelling student sprayed down by teacher
The furious mother of a student at a central Newfoundland elementary school says her 10-year-old son came home saying his teacher had sprayed him with air freshener after his lunch of fried fish.
Patti Rideout said she was "very hurt and very angry" over her son's treatment at Twillingate Island Elementary School last week.
"I feel like he's been embarrassed, bullied, and I think what she [did] was very disgraceful," Rideout told CBC News. "I think my son was treated not like a human being — I think he was treated like a dog, or a cat … I'm very hurt and very angry over this."
Rideout said she made her son Christian a meal of fried capelin Thursday for lunch. When Christian went back to school, she said, the students started teasing and laughing at him.
His teacher put him in the hall for a period — then sprayed him with Febreze.
Rideout called it bullying, and said school officials are doing nothing about it.
"I want her fired …I don't want it to happen to any other child — no child deserves to go through that," she said.
Rideout said she called the teacher at home that night looking for an apology, but the teacher hung up.
During a meeting with the school principal on Monday, Rideout said, the principal told her that people make mistakes, but provided no apology.
A spokesperson for the local school board confirmed a complaint had been received from a parent and that the matter is under investigation.
