Teacher told mortified girl of 14 to ‘control her period’ in front of class
A TEENAGE girl says a teacher told her to ‘control her period’ after refusing to let her go to the toilet.
Maisie-Rae Adams, 14, claims she had to disobey the comment and leave the classroom to change her pad.
When she went back minutes later, she says, she was told she could not return to the lesson. This is not the first time she has experienced such problems.
She claims she has already been put in detention on three occasions at Rednock School in Dursley, Gloucestershire, for asking to go to the toilet while having her period. Maisie says she suffers from a heavy menstrual cycle up to three times a month and that endometriosis – where the lining of the womb grows in other places such as the ovaries – runs in her family.
She needed to change her sanitary towel and the female teacher had already twice refused her permission to be excused when the incident occurred, she claims. ‘The class seemed to be in shock at what happened,’ she said. ‘I grabbed my pad and went to the toilet. When I tried to come back into the classroom the teacher told me that my bag was in another room and I could not go back to class.’
Her mother Kelly, 36, said: ‘When Maisie told me about it I felt so angry that I could cry. She is a mini-me.
‘With her confidence and even her shyness we are the same. I know how she feels. Maisie felt humiliated and embarrassed and it is horrible what happened to her. She should never have had a detention for needing to go to the toilet during her period.’
Maisie and her mother are campaigning to quash the stigma around periods and have proposed a pink wristband scheme so pupils can discreetly show teachers they are on their time of the month.
Headteacher David Alexander said: ‘The situation is not as has been interpreted but I cannot go into details. I can’t talk about individual students however I can talk about what we do. We do allow students to go to the toilet for issues relating to their period. In fact we have “time out” cards specifically for that purpose – we introduced this to all girls in assemblies at the start of the year.
‘Every girl had the opportunity to carry one. We are sensitive to the needs of all students but especially girls in this situation who are developing emotionally and physically.
‘We provide free tampons and sanitary towels for those who need them. Clearly we will reflect on this so that we learn from it and improve.’
Mrs Adams, a mother of four, said: ‘The school said to us in a meeting that they have a pink card policy the girls can show the teacher.
‘Maisie was not aware of this though. I think it would be a good idea to get the girls wearing a little pink wristband. It would show the teachers and others that the girl is on her period and that they may be a little emotional that week.’