Third graders who must 'pay' to use restroom are having accidents at school

Third grade students at Mill Plain Elementary School in Vancouver, Washington, are being forced to pay to go to the bathroom.

That's right, the students are earning play money at school, like that from the popular board game Monopoly. It's then up to them whether they'd rather "spend" that money on treats or use it to go to the restroom during class.

But here's the problem: not surprisingly, the children are using their money on treats, leaving them without enough for restroom visits and causing them to have accidents in class. KOIN spoke with Jasmine Al-Ayadhi, the mother of one of the children who wet her pants.

"'I didn't want to be left out and I wanted to have popcorn with the rest of my friends.' And so she had to hold it. She said it hurt so bad, she said 'Mommy, I couldn't hold it. The pain was so bad, I just had to let it go.'"

KATU says Al-Ayadhi's daughter was given a pair of boys' basketball shorts to wear for the rest of the day, but that led to teasing from other students.

REEM: "I did get teased sometimes, like the boys would tease me."

This "pay-to-potty" program has been used before by an elementary school in Texas.

The Daily Caller says a 7-year-old boy at J.O. Davis Elementary had an accident back in 2012 after he didn't have enough money to use the restroom and his teacher wouldn't let him leave the classroom.

As for this this school in Washington, a school district spokeswoman told KOIN the district allowed the "pay-to-potty" program because it was the teacher's classroom management strategy.

The spokeswoman did say students are given bathroom breaks several times during the day but that individual teachers decide how to handle restroom breaks during class time. The district says students' requests to use the bathroom were never denied.

And despite the fact that the school says the teacher implemented this program to teach the students the value of a dollar, Al-Ayadhi is still not happy.

"When it comes to a bathroom issue and a child has to pay money to use the bathroom, that's wrong. It's inhumane. That's a health issue."

Since this story broke, the school district has decided to investigate the issue. The teacher has been removed from the classroom for the duration of the investigation.