A Louisiana school administrator has been arrested on child cruelty charges after allegedly forcing a 6-year-old student to clean up her own feces after the girl accidentally soiled herself at school.
Kristy Scott Gilpin, 41, faces one felony count of cruelty to juveniles in the incident, which occurred two months ago at Rollins Place Elementary School in Zachary, about 16 miles north of Baton Rouge.
Gilpin worked there as the assistant principal, although her profile on the school’s website has been taken down since the incident, according to local station WBRZ.
Jamisha Augustine removed her child from Rollins Place in February.
She says she previously had submitted the necessary documents to school officials to show that her daughter has a dairy allergy, according to WAFB. Despite this, her daughter was given milk at breakfast and fell ill.
“She asked her teacher to go to the restroom, but she said no because she went too many times,” Augustine said to WAFB. “So, upon her going to the office after having an accident the principal told her she was too big to be having accidents on herself.”
After this, Gilpin allegedly stated that the child needed to be disciplined for the incident. Gilpin then handed the 6-year-old gloves and instructed her to clean up her own mess.
Learning of this, Augustine said she was outraged.
“She made her clean up the bathroom floor, the bathroom walls … and she didn’t find anything wrong that,” said a flabbergasted Augustine.
“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?”
After months of investigation, police announced the arrest March 17 after authorities reviewed surveillance footage showing the child being forced to clean up her own waste.
The administrator was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Jail on Monday but was released before noon after posting a $25,000 bond.
The child’s mother was outraged, calling the humiliating ordeal completely unacceptable.
“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.”
