A proposed Utah law would prohibit parents from sending their children to kindergarten without training them first.
The bill, proposed by Rep. The state’s Douglas Welton, will also set guidelines for referring families to social workers for not complying with the policy change.
The Republican lawmaker said he was compelled to write HB331 after hearing about three separate kindergarten teachers who were “ready to quit” after they were asked to wipe their students’ bottoms or check their diapers.
“They were like, ‘This is too much of a risk. I’m not going to risk potty training a child. They need to come potty trained and ready to go,'” Welton told Desert News.
“You’re asking teachers who already seem a little distrusted by certain segments of the population and you’re asking them to go and help make it easier for kids to use the toilet. That’s a big risk that many of them don’t want to take and don’t need to take.”
The bill itself requires the State Board of Education to create new regulations “regarding toilet training as a condition for kindergarten registration.”
Parents or designated adults would be allowed to assist in potty training as needed, the amended bill said.
Those who enroll in school without the required toilet training will be removed from class and referred to the school social worker or counselor for resources.
Representative Douglas Welton said teachers are concerned about the risk of helping their students who soil their clothes. https://progressreport.betterutah.org/legislators/rep-doug-r-welton/
Only when students learn to use their own bathroom are they allowed back into the classroom.
There are exceptions in the proposed legislation for students who have conditions described in the Individualized Education Program that would otherwise prevent their toilet training.
Welton argued the bill is important for the safety of children and their teachers, especially as the number of students attending full-day kindergarten classes has jumped in recent months after other bills expanded classroom access.
State BOE data show that 77% of registered kindergarteners were enrolled in the full-day option this academic year, up from 34% the previous year.
“This is pretty universal. Across the state of Utah. We have about four times the number of kids coming into kindergarten who are not toilet trained,” Welton said.
Teachers have expressed concern about the legal risks of touching children who have soiled themselves, but letting children sit in a mess poses its own set of hygiene and moral problems.
The proposed bill would require kindergarteners to be toilet trained before classroom registration. ChiccoDodiFC
School nurses have previously helped with such issues, but Weltson said they have been overwhelmed by the influx of kindergarteners.
“If it’s four times bigger, that’s a lot of school nurses you’d have to hire,” she said.
The bill received a favorable recommendation from the House Education Committee on Wednesday.
If approved, it would go into effect in time for the 2024-2025 school year.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
