I barely walked out, what trouble might I get in. I’ll talk to my union rep later.
This is going to be gross. School day just started and I ended up with projecI learnede puked on by a student. Admin said to me to change and go back to class. I said no I’m going home, they said no. I walked out. I don’t care, I have at no point been so grossed out in my life. I want to go residence and shower. I don’t desire to just change clothes. It wasn’t even 10 minutes into 1st period. They’re probably going to say job abandonment or something idk.
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Say you were feeling sick yourself and didn’t trust yourself to speak. Is that inaccurate?
I mean, yes. Because I did feel absolutely disgusted.
Admin can push it, HR won’t. Even in a non-Union state. Body fluid spills require specific clean up protocol (ask custodians if they have a written protocol). You cannot do that with a simple change of clothes. An acceptable outcome would have been for Admin to say, go home, ...
Trying to think of the proper wording but isn’t bodily discharge getting on you a major health concern? Like for spreading illness? So you’re just suppose to change and go back and potentially get other kids sick? I cannot imagine parents would be cool knowing the admin asked ...
We had this happen in a SPED class and our admin told the para to go home and shower, try to be back before the end of the day. It’s a straight up health code violation to NOT shower.
Such a good point. Imagine ANY other non-medical based professional being told to ‘change and get on with it’ after being projectile puked on.
Not a teacher , but a janitor /cleaner . We go home if we’re puked on and change but if the puke is only on the floor we clean it . The worst thing I’ve cleaned or thrown out was a pair of kid’s underwear that was covered in shit because it was left on the floor for the nigh...
I'm so sorry. People are so disgusting. My best friend is the district manager for a higher end clothing brand. The things she's shown me are just... grotesque. I don't understand what some people are thinking, but the things I've seen left behind in dressing rooms are vile.
I’ve had the underwear thing happen but they shoved it into the toilet so I had to fish out the soiled underwear to throw away. Honestly, it’s weird how common it was for me to throw out underwear but it was only for the guys.
I once had to clean a finger painted smiley face off a bathroom stall wall. It was not brown paint.
How were you supposed to get changed?
I was working as a server at IHOP and a ketchup bottle exploded and made me look like a homicide victim. My manager wouldn’t let me go home and change. I had to wear an extra shirt one of the cooks had. Utterly humiliating. I quit soon after. I had no need to keep that bridge ...
lol this! And yeah definitely lost and found
Admin probably thinks the lost and found would be fine 🤢
What exactly did they want you to change in to?
Spare clothes for when students aren’t in dress code. Basically sweats and a plain tee shirt.
Make a lot of noise that you were covered in vomit and admin tried to not let you properly clean off.
Cc all the parents about it, too.
Disgusting! I can’t believe they asked you to stay. FWIW I once got a very mild vomit burn on my hand from not washing it off properly (threw up at night, woke up with burn). Vomit is acidic and does need to be washed off, not wiped!
My daughter peed on a teacher while sitting on her lap in kindergarten. The teacher was sent home for the rest of the day. With any bodily fluid it’s gross to think they wanted you to stay.
You should fill out a worker comp and go get tested.
Anything that is wet and not yours should absolutely be treated seriously. I’m genuinely shocked they did not let you properly clean yourself.
Also this though^ you got puked on, i would genuinely be going in to get all the tests done.
Tested for what exactly? lol What do you think you’re going to catch from vomit that would qualify for WC?
If the student is sick with something then vomit is considered a biohazard by osha and should be treated as such as it can contain harmful pathogens, viruses, bacteria, and blood. It’s absurd for them to expect you to stay if it came in contact with your skin and or hair. Howe...
Why would it be problematic? They went home to wash off a student’s biowaste. No one (other than this persons admin) would find this problematic, including the health department and OSHA.
I don’t know about the teacher, but if everyone in healthcare went home after having been around vomit, no one would work. Believe me, I worked in healthcare and we were exposed to so many different viruses and bacteria. Blood leaking from Foley bags, amputations, wounds? Seen...
Hellll no. I've dealt with my share of vomit as a parent and pet owner, but if a student puked on me I'd be driving home in my skivvies and taking a shower hot enough to autoclave myself. Your admin is way outta line and I have to think HR would back you up, plus any union if ...
Hey I’m admin. Your admin sucks. I’d have said go home right away. Probably would have bought you something for your return the next day, like coffee or breakfast. Person said it before, HR won’t press it. But talk to your union anyways because I’m sure admin did not handle it...
Find the place in your employee manual where it mentions bodily fluids. If there isn’t one, get the relevant district policy - ask the nurse, or the union rep, or someone at the district office. I am pretty sure bodily fluids are to be taken more seriously.
Teachers in Texas have to take a ‘bodily fluids’ protocol class and quiz at the beginning of the school year. Been doing it for 25 years. It’s much more specific than I would have thought. You would have been sent home to shower and change at the very least.
Hello- I hope it's ok if I post here. I'm a teacher, but I teach medical students, medical residents, and fellows, so not sure I qualify. I'm also a pathologist with board certification and years of experience in clinical pathology which includes lab safety, microbiology, etc,...
Finally, another reasonable voice.
I wouldn’t have asked. I’d have been telling them I was going home. But that’s just me. Vomit is something that you have to clean, you can’t just wipe off because it’s acidic. And, given the student was probably sick… I’d be going home and resting because you’re probably gonna...
I’m still in disbelief they said no and to just change clothes. You absolutely should have been told to go home and shower. That’s a horrible admin!
And, if your clothes aren’t washed soon, they are ruined from sitting in vomit.
Happened to me. The principal told me to go to the lost and found and find some students dirty clothes to wear. Um, no. I said I’m going home and did. They sent someone in to cover my class, then I left. This is disgusting and absolutely ridiculous. I would focus on the...
>They’re probably going to say job abandonment or something idk. Abandonment is weeks of not showing up without contact. This was a biological hazard. You had to change clothes, have a hot shower at minimum. Let them put it in writing. Then get your Union Rep remind them...
What grade students? you might get talked to but your not going to get in trouble if anything they might grt in trouble for forcing you to work in an unsafe/ unhealthy work environement ur good
It says high school
Go home, shower, change and return. You can’t clean up body fluids with a change of clothes.
Don’t return. Stay home. Use the time to start looking for a job at a different school.
Teaching sucks now. That should require specific cleaning protocols BY A CUSTODIAN who is trained.
Uh I’m a cleaner /janitor. I’m not trained to do anything OSHA protocol wise since I’m just told to go home if any chemical or dust goes in my eye. Maintenance/custodians in my school aren’t trained in my school to do that either .
You think a custodian should have given OP a sponge bath?
Should be all good. No trouble I can see. Union should be all over this.
You didn’t walk out. You told them you were going home. Sounds like admin needs some reeducation on dealing with bodily fluids, and empathy and compassion for their staff.
I’m calling OSHA here and hard pressing the “Bodily Fluids Protocol” lens on this, pardon the pun, “mess.”
Admin was just doing all they were mentally capable of…which is not much
That sounds like a health code violation right there if it’s written up the right way. Bodily fluids must be addressed appropriately.
Not being allowed to properly cleanse all parts of your body that came in contact with potentially contaminated bodily fluid turns you into a vector for transmission to every other human. If admin wants to make it an issue, I'd make the argument that this puts all your other s...
When kids throw up in my district, it's considered a biohazard... It has to be cleaned by the custodian immediately. The child goes home. And anything with barf has to be cleaned thoroughly and if it can't like clothes or books, it gets thrown out or goes home with the barfe...
Lean into the health and safety aspect of this. This is contact with bodily fluids issue so appropriate steps need to be taken. Sounds like the admin didn’t do it so they can’t fire you. If they do you will probably have a nice lawsuit.
Yup. Schools in Virginia require teachers to do blood borne pathogens training, which includes other types of bodily fluid. This might be an OSHA violation (under OPIM).
Change into what? Who carries extra clothes to work?
Preschool teachers. We keep an extra change of clothes in whatever container we have available b/c being puked on, bled on, snotted on, drooled on, peed on, and shat on is just a fact of life. Wipe off, wipe down, change and move on with your day. I am not spending a personal...
I teach special ed and it is a requirement to have a change of clothes at school. I do somewhere but I have no idea where. And if I get vomited on, I would also walk out, take a shower and come back.
That's a bio-hazard. Nuff said.
I would go home, strip, and shower for like 30 minutes with a scrub brush and boiling water. Depending on what time it happened, I'd probably go back in, but that's just me. It's 40 minutes round trip from school to home, then another 45 min or so to get cleaned up, so that's...
Along with everything else in these responses............. refer admin to those lovely videos we have to watch at the beginning of the year if they need a reminder on the hazards of bodily fluids!
Bio hazard especially if the kid is sick. A change of clothes won't cut it you need to shower.
It's a hazard. They would get in trouble for trying to make you stay if they pushed it
Change into what? Do you bring a spare set of clothes every day???
Explained in another comment but I believe it’s extra clothes reserved for students normally.
Not allowing a worker permission to go home and shower is a clear OSHA violation. If you can, send an email to your principal getting them to admit in some way that they would not grant permission to go home. After you get cleaned up you need to sit down and write times, date,...
If I were the admin I'd be like get out of my office....go home , shower ....then shower again. Grab a cup of coffee and if you want to come back feel free but I'm arranging coverage for the day.
It’s a health hazard. If you have the sick days, that’s what you’re using. Definitely consult with union rep and write notes of everything said to you. Put it in writing that they were denying you your rights. I’d make a doctors appointment if you can for a check up as I’ve go...
This is a bio hazard. Special clean up protocol for the custodians. The child was obviously sick—with what? You don’t know. One of our family got sick and projectile vomitted—it was meningitis . We had to wear full protective gowns, shoes, hair covers and masks to visit him. H...
Is this high school? Do you feel like they aimed at you? Even my 6 year old knows to run to a trash can or at least look down
I don’t no, he came in and said “Señor C I don… oh god” and then his life flashed before his eyes, my life flashed before my eyes. It definitely wasn’t an intentional thing. He said he woke up feeling off but not sick but by the time he got off the bus at school his stomach fe...
CHANGE? Into what, bitch admin?! Do you think I keep an entire wardrobe here at school? I don't. So ... I'd be going home and telling the admin that if they can cover my classes, so I can go home and clean up, and to avoid getting vomited on. How dare your admin tell you...
They didn’t even offer for you to shower in the locker rooms? Wtf
Your admin will get reminded by HR that they screwed up. Not you. (Retired administrator here )
Changed into…..? Not one teacher I know Keeps spare clothes on hand
Does everyone have a change of clothes at school? I do not. 🤷♂️ sorry I’m out. See you tomorrow probably.
Cases like that are usually classified as health and safety, not job abandonment. To be honest, most people would respond the same way: take a shower, relax, and deal with the paperwork afterwards. It’s a tough way to start the day.
That is a biohazard. Report your admin to OSHA.
First off, how many teachers take a complete change of clothes to school everyday? Secondly, anytime you come into contact with bodily fluids, there are protocols for cleaning and reporting. I haven’t taught in about 11 years, but I can’t even see my worst admin not sending ...
Just tell the union rep you were exposed to hazardous body fluids and they tried to refuse your right to properly clean yourself.
Uhhh yeah no that's a biohazard.
In my second year of teaching first grade I had a kid absolutely explosively vomit all over himself, neck to toe, covered in the partly digested remains of that days lunch. Then he starts walking after me because he's in pain and all he wants is a hug from his teacher, and I'...
Can’t you just take a sick day?
They’re saying no because tomorrow is our first day of spring break. We’re technically *technically* not allowed to call out the days before breaks start according to our school policy.
Assuming you are in the US, find your school’s OSHA required written Exposure Control Plan, which should be available to you. Determine if the plan covers teachers. If teachers are covered in the plan, have you received annual blood borne pathogens training, does the plan iden...
GO home. Stay home. Everyone in education should know this situation falls under the vomitus exodus rule. IANAL
Admin sees teachers as equal to students. When a students messes up their clothes with bodily fluids they just give them oversized lost and found clothes and send them back. They want you to do the same except you don’t get a piece of candy or a bag of chips when you go back t...
If you dont SPECIFICALLY have documented biohazard cleanup training, youre probably golden
You were in shock. The end.
Stomach acid will eat your skin. Go home!
Get a babysitter. I’m going home.
Biohazard cleanup.
I never took spare clothes to work, except for when I worked at a ski resort. Always had warmer clothes in the locker but we didn't get vomited on. Other than that I was a mop jockey on a surgery ward and from time to time would get body fluid on me. But in that case, I ...
You need a shower and clean clothes. They expect you to keep clean clothes at work????
Changing clothes won't erase the issue. You're covered in a sick child's germs.
It is best you walked off.
I doubt you will get into trouble. My school had a para go home because one of the kindergartners threw bark at her from the playground and it got in her shirt. She took the rest of the day off……
How can an Admin tell you to change- what do they expect you to have a backup outfit in your car?
Swap clothes with admin! 😎
Always remember, the only people admin hate more than students and parents are teachers. Admin will do anything to anyone to protect themselves, their easy days, and their inflated paychecks.
Change into what? Who brings a change of clothes?
After a year of unexpectedly getting rainwater splashed on me due to probelms with the rain gutters, I do (ironically, it's never happened again)
What did they want you to change into exactly? Do they expect you to have spare clothes in your office?!
Who has a change of clothes at work? I only do because it’s a gym bag but you want me to wear shorts and a T-shirt for the day? I live close. Even if I didn’t, send a sub to the room for an hour for god’s sake. Have some decency. Do you have blood borne pathogen training or h...
admin would give themselves 2 days paid leave over the same thing lol
Nah you’re fine especially if you’re union. No way you can have any real repercussion in this situation.
You'd have to go home if you didn't have clothes anyways. I don't pack extra clothes
I think everybody here is correct. On paper your job is safe. However, you’re obviously dealing with Admin that does not care about their teachers. Unfortunately that is common. I got in to teaching late life, and in the teaching profession from the County offices all the way ...
How were you supposed to change if you didn’t go home for clean clothes? That’s common sense.
Just tell them you tried to change and return but you vomited and had to leave.
Just here for the comments
File a grievance please, just start the process and do it, based on that. Trust me on this. Because moving forward, that administrator will think twice with events that have you involved.
Obviously you need to shit on their desk
UGH. That is horrible. If you are all cleaned up, you could consider going back in now. Or just return tomorrow as normal. That is completely unreasonable of your admin, for all the reason reasons people have stated. I’m sure your union will support you 100%. Love my teachers ...
Body fluids should have a separate protocol for clean up. If you couldn’t get clean and prepared at the school, you should be able to go home. Probably should have returned as soon as possible, but depending on drive time and whatnot, maybe that is not feasible. A proper clean...
Reading this is crazy to me because my first principal sent me home to shower and change when I had paint splash on my dress. PAINT! What is wrong with your admin?!?!!?
Absolutely wild. Last spring, I slipped in mud, and my AP told me to go home and change. So I ran home, showered, and came back. I can't believe your admin. Did you have a change of clothes with you?
OP I am not a teacher. ( Worked in an infant daycare a long time ago.) I as a parent would support you going home and showering change clothes and return to work. Administration can take over your class for a couple of hours. I remember in elementary school the pri...
Please update with the outcome! You did the right thing!
Good for you!!!
Who even has a change of clothes with them? Were they planning on giving you something to wear? This is nuts.
I mean I have my workout clothes with me but there is a zero percent chance o hell I’m wearing my leggings to teach in. Not gonna happen. Going home
I had a coworker get puked on in a CDC classroom. She just left, showered and came back. She lived 10 minutes away. Worse case, go to the news and tell them how unsanitary and heartless admin is.
The correct answer is “of course- we can cover you”
That is crazy expecting you not to clean up and shower! Good for you!
Who takes spare clothes to work? I certainly didn’t.
Tell your administration to review the Bloodborne Pathogens training that is required by school employees on a yearly basis. You are following protocol.
Did you come back afterwards or just still walking to This day ?
If that was my former school, they would have said the same thing and probably offered clothes from the kids’ Lost and Found box to justify themselves in making the teacher stay at school. Teachers not having decent unions in the South really sucks. OP will likely get written...
You should be in a union. Ask your rep
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Walking out isnt great, but union rep is the right call. Document everything.
I guess “take a change of clothes and shower with the team” is their suggestion? Way to support your staff, Admin.
did the admin offer the showers from the gym at least?
Change what? Are you required to bring extra clothes to school? Oh wait. Got it 🤖
Go full simian and throw your feces at them. When they complain, just tell them to change their clothes and move on.
There should be a policy on this, your union rep will have that or will ask for it. Tbh I’m surprised you haven’t already been trained on that policy
I feel for you!!! Parents and Students who are REALLY into college goals, competition and test scores; don’t CARE if they make others sick! 😢
This is a hygiene emergency. Write a detailed report, include names of students/staff who witnessed it, and email it to the principal. You can’t be in front of the students smelling of vomit AND they can’t be in the class with it.
Go with God. You did the right thing. I hope it all works out.
I got poop rubbed in my hair and we were under ratio for class so I had to just spray Lysol and keep going. Good for you for just leaving. It’s a biohazard and should be washed properly
Are you in California? Vomit is a bodily fluid and not being able to wash off and remove the items would be an OSHA violation. Bodily fluids could contain noro virus, hepatitis a or Rotavirus to name a few. This also would seem to go against the bloodborne pathogens protocol.
A girl projectile puked in my classroom and they made me move to a different room with my students while the custodian cleaned it up. Same thing when a fight broke out in the hallway and a student came in to my room bleeding from his mouth. Bodily fluids on you? You are absolu...
Admin would go home too. Thats BS
my god what state are you in that admin tried to pull that shit?
They'll say you weren't a good fit for the job, rather than the job wasn't a good fit for you. You don't have to put up with garbage like that. That's what it was like in Orlando, Florida public schools
Did you tell them that a change of clothes didn’t come to school with you?
Yea- vomit is a biohazard under OSHA. Your admin is putting themselves at liability because standard response is decontamination, medical eval, documentation of incident, and review. If you had to call in sick with stomach flu next week it’d likely be a workers comp absence.
Did you shower and come back?
Was the student pregnant 🤰
Similar thing happened to me. They can’t do that. It’s just an absence. Write absent on your timecard for that day.
Like many others have said, there is bound to be a hazardous bodily fluid’s protocol or policy in your schools training. For example, our school district uses moodle for the online course required HR trainings, your school/district might have a similar training you may realize...
Surprised but not surprised
It would have been much more responsible to (a) shower at school if you could use the gym showers and change clothes if you had a change of clothes, but without those, you should have said (b) that for health reasons you must go home and shower and change -- maybe one hour? --...
**WRONG!** *Try again.* Vomit on a staff member is treated as a **biohazard exposure** in workplace safety standards. Bloodborne pathogen guidance and general OSHA sanitation principles treat bodily fluids such as vomit as potentially infectious material because they can con...
Hahaha you don't have a change of clothes in your car? I genuinely thought everyone did.
Yes, according to school protocol for bodily fluids you have to clean up a specific way- it is in our Keenan training and if we don't abide by those rules we could get in trouble. Check with your union and state rules. You should be fine. My other question would be why a middl...
You could have your teacher certificate pulled
They have showers in the girls PE locker room.
not all schools have locker rooms
Sounds like you’re in the wrong job
^^^^
Is there a right job to be fine with being projectile vomited on? It's perfectly understandable to want to go home and shower and change.
Being grossed out is not a reason to walk off the job wtf
Being covered in some one else bodily fluid which is a biohazard is. Shoot in my mine job if I get bodily fluids im afforded the options to go back to the station shower and change or im offered the ability to go to HQ get a new uniform and shower. In no way im I expected to ...
Biological fucking hazard Ray! You want they should just work through the smell and contamination?! You sound like you should go for your admin certification. You'd fit right in. Fucking clown show
Being covered in puke is tho
Look at it this way: You have a class of students, their parents, and fellow teachers who count on you to be there so those kids can be accounted for and kept safe/orderly. If you’re gone, completely gone for the day, that puts them at risk. It puts strain on the rest of the...
Are you a teacher?
I’ll gladly cover for a fellow teacher if she gets vomitted all over & wants to go home. Sometimes we help a colleague out 🤷🏻♀️
Silly person. You are not a teacher. There’s protocols for handling bodily fluids and the teacher definitely needed to change.