SANIBEL, Fla. – A Florida day care has fired one of its employees after a mother says she was furious to find “Mom I’m out of diapers pls read my report” written in large letters across her toddler son’s stomach.
The executive director of the Children’s Education Center of the Islands, Cindy Carter DeCosta, said in a statement that they are “aware of the incident at the school and we are terribly sorry for the distress it has caused the family involved as well as all of our families.”
Heather Chisum, 23, posted on Facebook after finding the message scrawled with a marker across her son Milo’s torso Monday.
“Everyday when I pick Fin and Milo up from daycare they put a daily report paper in Milos lunch box. It says what mood he was in for the day, what times they changed his diapers, and if he needs diapers or wipes,” Chisum wrote.
She wrote that she may have missed a note about Milo’s diaper supply in a recent report, but said the staff at the Sanibel school said nothing about diapers when she picked Milo up.
“I’m a single mom with a full time job and two very young children. SUE ME FOR NOT READING THE REPORT EVERY SINGLE DAY,” she wrote. “‘Hey Heather, your son needs diapers maybe you missed the report’ would have done the trick.”
Chisum said she scrubbed the ink multiple times but couldn’t get it all off, forcing her to cancel beach plans because her son “has writing all over him.”
According to the News-Press, Chisum has pulled both of her children out of the school.
DeCosta called the incident a “breech of our professional ethic on the part of the teacher.”
Read the full statement below:
We are aware of the incident at the school and we are terribly sorry for the distress it has caused the family involved as well as all of our families. It was a breech of our professional ethics on the part of the teacher. The school has taken immediate action to remove the teacher from the school. We are reviewing protocols already in place to ensure that nothing like this occurs again. We are proud of our school, love our students and are eager to make our school a better place as we move forward.
We have met with the family involved, we understand and share their concerns and have ensured them that their children will always be welcome here.
