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?

The only way to guarantee this is to stop children bringing their own drinks and only drink from a single use cap filled at that moment from the tap.
Taking that action would result in complaints too.
How do you think the perpetrator can be indentified? Fingerprints? DNA testing? Someone asked if there was CCTV - how do people feel about their children being monitored in the classroom by CCTV? How would the school afford all theses measures?
It was a horrible thing to happen but I think the school has done all they can with the information they have. Yes, they could call the police but IF anything came of that it would likely be a PCSO repeating the same lecture the school has already given.

I think someone in uniform explaining the seriousness of this would be really beneficial. I think the op should actually suggest this to the school

Oh yes @kaben . What a terrible justice system we have to endure in which you actually need proof before you can punish someone.

Yes, they could call the police but IF anything came of that it would likely be a PCSO repeating the same lecture the school has already given.

A PCSO coming in won’t have the same impact
So is telling the kids the possible impact of spiking a drink, esp as it’s clearly someone who has done it at least twice. They need to be told that spiking is legally a criminal offence. They need to be told how serious this is for the person and under the law. Not just that ‘you know it can be dangerous to do that …’ lecture.
And tbh, I’d also have expected a message to parents letting them know what happened and asking them to reiterate both the dangers of alcohol gel consumption and the legal ramifications.

ZebraD and many others need a dose of reality!

1. Most schools do not have CCTV. They can hardly afford glue sticks so this is simply out of reach.
2. Keeping the whole class in detention until someone confesses is not allowed nor is it likely to work.
3. If the teacher doesn't know and no one saw or will own up, the police will not investigate this by interviewing the children until they crack.

The school did what they can - they delivered a talk about why this kind of behaviour is unacceptable and dangerous. The only other thing they could do is ban water bottles. Many parents and students would complain about this though.

Schools have all kinds of kids. They have children who do silly things and some will have children who do dangerous and very unacceptable things. If they know who is responsible then they can be sanctioned, but in this case they don't and therefore they can't.

explain to me how any rapist gets convicted, without the act being caught on cctv then

I am not sure how you know this happened. Water bubbles could be caused by detergent residue or by dissolved oxygen forming bubbles, and some plastic bottles do make the water 'taste' chemically.
Do you mean handwash or do you mean alcohol sanitiser, I dont know why alcohol would make bubbles in water.

Talk about going way off topic but it’s no secret that many don’t get convicted due to lack of evidence sadly.

I am also perplexed at the bubbles. What in hand sanitizer would make bubbles?

But, more to the point, it is just silly, not a deadly poison. If you had a sip, you would go yuck and spit it out, but wouldn’t get ill.

The school did the right thing, assuming it was a fairly strict talk.

What would you do if your 10/11 year old had a birthday party and one kid thought another kid might have put hand sanitizer in his drink?

Just reaching to the extreme for a moment but didn’t Briana Gheys killer poison someone at school and the behaviour was overlooked..?

I would expect more from the school to ascertain who and why and how and not just leave it at a group lecture

1. Always had plenty to drink at home and during break times when I were a lass.
2. Yeah course I would because that's a totally rational comparable situation.

Ridiculous whataboutery.

Called to bring her a drink or take her home? How ridiculous would that child then look??

A surefire to inconvenience parents, inflate something very inconsequential, waste her education and give classmates something to be cruel about.

This. If a child unknowingly ingested sanitizer and got very unwell, then what?

The debate is not about hand sanitizer or whether children should have access to water. No one, adult or child, should be at risk of someone spiking their drink. Everything else is irrelevant. It's quite deranged behaviour at ten years old to be partaking in.

This thread is nuts! The police? Really?

I think spiking a drink is quite a serious matter. Don't you?

Some 10 year olds do not always understand the consequences of what they think is a funny joke. All this talk of 'deranged behaviour' and 'spiked' drinks is ridiculous. And calling the police? You have clearly never worked with children if you think these words apply to the child who did this. Luckily the teacher was more level headed and has dealt with it in a way appropriate to their age and the incident.

Don't be stupid- the child didn't have their drink spiked. Spiking drinks is something much more sinister and done by fully grown adults with malicious intent. Here we are taking about a silly 10 year old who probably had no idea about the consequences of their actions who thought it would be funny to make a fellow 10 year olds drink taste a bit peculiar for a laugh.

But, more to the point, it is just silly, not a deadly poison. If you had a sip, you would go yuck and spit it out, but wouldn’t get ill.

Thats missing the point.
1- drinking alcohol gel (yes some people do that) can be deadly, leave you blind etc…. Because some contain methanol amongst other things. So whilst it’s unlikely to cause any major issue with these quantity, children need to learn it can be really dangerous.
2- the issue here is the spiking. Someone thinking it’s fun to spike someone else drink. AND do it twice too. This time it was alcohol gel. What about next time?is it not essential to teach children that spiking is not on, dangerous etc… just like we teach them about consent?

If we were to only teach children about things that made you ill, there is a lot we would never teach them about tbh.
peg if you’ve never been ill with food poisoning from bad cooking practice, why would you teach your child about it? I mean surely thats over the top too right?

I do think the police or a pcso should speak to the class.. I think whoever did this, as they won't be getting directly punished, needs a short sharp shock and to be aware that this is extremely serious.

It doesn’t matter if hand sanitizer is safe to ingest or not.

This is nasty behaviour from someone who needs punishing.

However, if they don’t know who did it and there are no cameras, then I’m not sure what else can be done??

I would hope the headteacher told them how bullying or nasty behaviour is completely unacceptable and anyone found doing it will be severely punished.

If it was me I would give them an opportunity to come forward and to not get in trouble before going through the ‘CCTV’ where the perpetrators will be found and punished.
If there’s no cctv and they still don’t come forward then I’m not sure what the next steps would be.

Sanitiser tastes disgusting for a reason.

@OneBadKitty

1- How do you know that the child didn't have malicious intend? And is it the only criteria to evaluate if someone’s actions are wrong?
2- spiking isn’t done only by adults. And even if it was, children still need to be taught you don’t play with other people drinks (and food). Just like you teach them that stealing, killing etc… is wrong. That’s part of education.

Whether hand sanitizer is safe or not to ingest is irrelevant....I doubt the child who did it has any knowledge on what substances are toxic or not.

Really?
You think that a 10yo has no idea that drinking a chemical substance can be dangerous?

So you wouldn’t leave them around washing up liquid either in case they drink it. Or many of the cleaning products, paint etc… we all have in a house.