School board facing lawsuit after boy suffers second-degree burns

CTV Kitchener: Boy suffers serious burns A Cambridge woman is speaking out after her son suffered second-degree burns while using a school bathroom. Allison Tanner reports.

A Cambridge boy is slowly recovering from burn injuries his mother says he received from sitting on a toilet seat at his school.

The mother, who spoke to CTV News on the condition that her name not be published, says the incident dates back to March 29 at Stewart Avenue Public School.

“It’s a shame that it happened to my son, but it would be a shame if it happened to anyone’s child,” she said in an interview.

On that day, she says, her seven-year-old son used the bathroom. He noticed that there was something “oily and slippery” on the toilet seat. Before long, he developed soreness in his legs.

The boy was taken to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a minor burn. At that point, his mother says, the marks on his legs looked like a sunburn.

By the next day, his diagnosis was upgraded to a second-degree burn.

“He was very sore, very emotional,” his mother said.

The mother says her son couldn’t wear any clothing on his legs for 11 days, and was off school for nearly two weeks.

“He’s on the mend – not better, (but) getting better,” she said.

Two other students at Stewart Avenue were also affected, she said.

On April 1, a letter was sent home with all students at Stewart Avenue, saying that “some students” had experienced “varying levels of skin reaction after using a bathroom at school.”

According to the letter, the bathroom had since been cleaned, and an inspection done of all cleaning products used inside.

The mother says the school provided her with documentation on ED Everyday Disinfectant, which is believed to be the chemical that caused the injuries.

She says the documentation claims the cleaner can be “harmful in contact with skin.”

In a statement to CTV News, officials with the Waterloo Region District School Board said that they took the situation “very seriously” and “appropriate measures were taken.”

The mother has since launched a $250,000 lawsuit against the school board.