Students punished over cafeteria poop?

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.

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.

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 worker said she called Principal Paul 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.

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. Full article here.