St. Louis’s Preschool Teacher of the Year has been axed following an incident where a student showed up in a soiled diaper.
Kelly Hahn did not remove the diaper, but immediately contacted the child’s parent to inform her of the situation.
However, another staff member had contacted the Missouri Department of Family Services.
As a result, Hahn was fired from her job on charges of child neglect and endangerment. She had won her “Teacher of the Year” honor only a fortnight before.
Parents told Fox2Now that their kids have come home from school crying, wondering what happened to their favorite teacher. Some even thought she had cancer.
“It’s pretty crazy to think that a pull-up would be considered neglect,” parent Nancy Durante told the station. “She deserves to be in the classroom teaching our children, not fighting for her job.”
Dana Evans, the president of the magnet school’s Parent Teachers Organization, spoke to KMOV-TV about Hahn.
“How can something so ludicrous, so crazy having to do with the best teacher in our school district, getting sent out and possibly getting fired over a pull-up issue,” Evans said.
The mother of the boy who wore the pull-up to school has defended Hahn.
“Regardless of the policy, what happened is so minor that it couldn’t possibly warrant incriminating a fabulous teacher,” Cynthia West told Fox2Now.
District Superintendent Kelvin Adams said that, although “the state found no indication of neglect,” the district has “different standards.”
I’d be curious just what those “different standards” are, and how, precisely, Ms. Hahn violated them.
I’d also be curious as to what motivated the fellow staff member to make that phone call to Family Services.
Hahn has a hearing scheduled for March 4.
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