A 6-year-old kindergarten student from Orange, New Jersey, allegedly suffered burns when drinking from the school water fountain. According to WABC, the child’s mother, Matilda Ekeize, claimed her son drank from a Lincoln Avenue School water fountain that was connected to hot water instead of cold water.
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Kindergarten Student Suffered Burns From Drinking Hot Water From School Fountain
“I put my cup up there, and then I turned on the cold water, super hot,” said her son, Idris. The family described the incident as “completely mishandled.” This is due to the school allegedly forcing Idris to stay at school the rest of the day.
Idris has not been back to school since the accident on Thursday. The hot water dispenser was located in the gymnasium. Even in the interview, you could see the severe burn scars around his mouth.
Ekeize was “livid” that the school didn’t call 911 or take her son to the hospital. The mother claimed she signed a release to ensure they would take those actions if he were hurt.
“This is definitely medical. That’s second-degree burns,” said Ekeize. “So if they would have called EMS and sent him to the hospital, I probably would’ve been feeling a little bit more at ease. I wasn’t because now I had to call the ambulance.”
After the school told her what happened, Ekeize confronted the principal. This was after her son was sent back to class instead of receiving medical treatment. “He’s telling me he doesn’t know the procedures,” said Ekeize.
“I said you don’t know the procedures when the child gets second-degree burns? He’s saying that the nurse is telling him that there’s an ointment that they put on the child’s skin until they make it to the ER. So you guys just don’t call EMS?”
When Ekeize took her son to the hospital, doctors confirmed that they were second-degree burns. This incident has now left her son traumatized. “I never, never, never again. It’s not fun,” Idris commented.
In a statement, the school mentioned the district was investigating the incident. Other than that, they had no further comments on the accident.
The family is now looking for legal counsel.