A Louisiana school administrator has turned herself in to police after reportedly forcing a six-year-old student to clean up her own feces after the girl had an accident.
Kristy Scott Gilpin, an administrator at Rollins Place Elementary in Zachary, about 16 miles north of Baton Rouge, has been charged with one felony count of cruelty to juveniles in the incident two months ago.
She had been identified as an assistant principal on the school’s website until her name was recently scrubbed, WBRZ reported.
The child’s mother, Jamisha Augustine, told WAFB her daughter has a dairy allergy and she provided documents to school officials earlier this year. Despite the allergy, the child drank milk for breakfast and became sick.
When the girl asked Gilpin if she could go to the bathroom, the administrator reportedly said no because she had gone too many times that day. The child then had an accident and soiled herself.
“Upon her going to the office after having an accident, the [administrator] told her she was too big to be having accidents on herself,” Augustine told the outlet, adding that the Gilipin then allegedly told her that her child needed a form of discipline over the matter.
The administrator gave the 6-year-old gloves and told her to “clean up the mess she made,” according to WAFB.
“I said, ‘What was the point of making her clean that up? Do y’all have janitors?' She said they do have janitors, but she needed a form of discipline,” Augustine said. “I’m saying, how can you punish her for having an accident?”
Police announced the arrest Monday following a months-long investigation. Authorities obtained surveillance footage of the child cleaning up the feces.
The administrator was being held at East Baton Rouge Parish Jail on Monday. She was released before noon on $25,000 bond.
The Independent has contacted her attorney, Zachary Community School District and East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office for comment.
The child’s angry mother said the humiliating incident was uncalled for.
“You [should] send a janitor in with the proper equipment,” she told WAFB. “But a 6-year-old kid, you are going to make them clean up poop without gloves. It’s disgraceful and should not have gone on in our school. It should not have happened.”
