Daughters water contaminated at school

[ZebraD]

Just that - daughter went out to play at school break time. Came back in and thankfully noticed her bottle had bubbles in it so didn’t actually drink it. However it turns out that someone has put hand sanitizer in the water. (She opened the bottle and could smell it I think)
school didn’t ring me until an hour after school ends (it happened morning break). Daughter was at her dad’s last night so I knew nothing of it until they rang.
they don’t know who did it. The only thing the teacher explained at is that it is dangerous to do things like that - he said they spent 20 minutes talking about the dangers and then carried on with lessons.
how would you feel?

What else would you like them to do?

If they don’t know who did it and they’ve delivered a class education session on why it’s dangerous, I don’t know what else they can do. How old are they?

How old are the kids?

How old are they?

Is there CCTV covering the area?

Make sure it cannot/will not happen again. Whoever did it knew it was wrong, hasn't been identified and won't listen to a talk.

I had to send my ds with sealed plastic bottles new every day when he was being bullied at school.

They are 10/11
its strange that this kind of behaviour is deemed almost acceptable … I must be wrong for feeling upset. Hope it doesn’t happen to any of you.

I don’t think k any one has said it’s acceptable.
Just that as the teachers don’t k ow who did it they can’t punish the culprit. What they did do is tell the whole class.

It’s not acceptable but I’m not sure what else they can actually do, other than speak to all the children.

I think you are right to feel upset but the school has taken it seriously and explained the dangers of what happened and I don't know what more I'd expect from the school if I was in your situation.

No one said you shouldn't be upset but the school has addressed it within the limits of the info they have.People have asked you what else could school do. Perhaps if you make suggestions on what you wish the school had done pp can then advise on such a suggestion.

And no they could not have stopped lessons to inform you. They informed you afterwards and after they dealt reasonably with it.

Of course it isn’t acceptable but the school don’t know who did it and have given a talk on the dangers. What else do you think they should do? I’m glad your dd is ok.

What would be an appropriate response in your opinion?

It isn’t nice and it is understandable that you are upset but I’m not sure what outcome are looking for. She didn’t drink it, no harm caused (if using a harm rating scale rather than emotions) and the school have addressed it.

Are you sure that there wasn't any leftover washing up liquid in the bottle? Had she drunk it before she had been out for break?

I'd be asking more questions from the school, if they were at break how did someone have access to the bottle?

I’m not sure what else you thought the school should do. They talked to the whole class which is the only thing they can do if they don’t know which child did it. They informed you what had happened and what action they have taken. What else is there to do?

JFC it's no wonder people grow up thinking they can get away with all sorts. Yeah just stick something non potable into someone's drink, get a little class chat and move on

This is absolutely appalling. I can't believe the responses.

There are many actions the school could take in addition to what they have done. eg a message to all the class parents letting them know that some nasty little bully has contaminated a child's water with hand sanitiser and for each parent to speak to their child? To review any CCTV of corridors and see who might have gone in alone?

You stupid responders. What will you say when this bully gets a bit older and it's drain cleaner going into someone's drink, not hand sanitiser?

I presume none of you will mind a bit of spiking of your kids' drinks when they are old enough to go clubbing either.

Back in the old days, the entire class would have been in detention.
And in the even older days, nobody would have been allowed to leave until the culprit had been identified.

What are you expecting the school to do?

Keep her kid safe from drinking a spiked drink?

@kaben it is quite a stretch to equate this incident with malicious poisoning or drinks spiking. 10 year olds do stupid things and need the adults around them to explain why their actions could have been dangerous. This has been done. The school addressed the issue and explained to the class why putting anything in someone’s drink is absolutely not ok. There is no need to target a single child - much better to educate the whole class.

@kaben if the school kept all the children until the culprit was identified I can bet there would have been a queue of parents complaining about that. In the old days no-one would have had a water bottle!

Is there something you can put on the lid, coloured tape or something, that would show whether it has been tampered with? I know you shouldn't have to do this but is an option until hopefully the culprit will be identified.

Not all schools have CCTV in corridors, no funding for that.

It would be good to send message to parents so they can reinforce the message.

It's not been deemed acceptable. They spent 20 minutes talking about it in class. That's a big chunk of lesson time. If that were my child, I'd be satisfied. You are being over dramatic.

Hang on though, nobody even knows what happened. Loads of things can smell like hand sanitizer including water bottles which have developed biofilm on the inside, which is not unusual.

A tiny squirt of hand sanitizer in a bottle of water is going to immediately taste unpleasant and not be drunk, but if it was drunk it is unlikely to do any harm. It would be essentially a very weak alcoholic mix.

They are at primary school so if someone had done this, it's probably curiosity and random, rather than targeted malice or a precursor to date rape.

There is no need for a full scale criminal investigation - talking to the class, and informing the child's parents (given they don't know who did it) is absolutely fine and if someone WAS just doing it curiously, then they know now that it is not acceptable and why.

If this continued and was happening to multiple children, that is the time to investigate more and try to find out who is doing it. But to put a load of teacher time and effort into that, when likely all that is needed is a clear message of saying we know you did this; don't do it again - it's overkill. Teachers need their time and energy to teach, not go around being amateur detectives.

Where would the sanitiser have come from? Do children still carry it around with them at school?

As a teacher I don't know what else could realistically be done but I do know that if it was in my class it wouldn't have just been a 'chat' but it would have been a really firm explanation of the dangers and consequences of it. Basically I'd be as harsh as possible to try to prevent whoever did it from ever wanting to do it again, if it's a child who doesn't care about what they do to others and how much it harms them (because they exist and I've taught them) then I would hope I would scare them enough with the consequences that they themselves would face if caught.
Hopefully this is the kind of 'chat' your daughter's class had?

No one's said its acceptable, but you haven't said what else you wanted to happen?

@SevenSeasOfRhye I go into schools, some still have hand sanitiser out. It's not like germs have disappeared since the pandemic.