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A teenage tourette's sufferer spent several months at school gardening and picking up rubbish with the caretaker after claims he was too disruptive to have in class.
Raewyn Todd, mum of 15-year Logan Bowater, is angry Auckland's Rangeview Intermediate School made her son feel like an "idiot" and the situation highlighted the lack of facilities for children who are "a little bit of a challenge".
Logan was diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome in 2004.
The neurological condition causes sufferers to involuntarily grimace, shout obscenities and in some severe cases make barking noises.
The following year, when Logan was a student at Rangeview, he was removed from class by teachers frustrated at his continual outbursts and disruptive influence on other students. He was placed in a class by himself and later in the year spent several months with the caretaker collecting rubbish, helping with gardening duties and shovelling coal.
"Logan felt like an idiot. All the other kids would laugh at him," she told the Herald on Sunday. "What he really needed was to be in class learning to read and write. It was a humiliating experience."
Todd said she confronted the school about his treatment and claims she was told it was doing the best it could.
She accepted her son's complex neurological problems would have been challenging but said it should not have accepted him if it wasn't prepared to tolerate his constant tics and outbursts.
The principal of Rangeview, David Latimer, disputed Todd's claims that the school had not been supportive.
He accepted that on occasions Logan had been placed with the caretaker but said this was a chance "for the boy to get out and let off some steam". His placement with the caretaker also tied in with a horticultural programme the school was establishing.
"In all fairness the school put a lot of time, energy and financial resources into Logan. I think there was quite a lot of compassion and sympathy for him," he said. "In cases such as this a range of different options are looked at. But there was a big issue in keeping other children safe. He was much bigger than the other kids and he was much more violent than the other kids."
Ministry of Education spokesman Gillon Carruthers said he could not comment on Logan specifically, but in cases such as his, the ministry
worked with the parents, the pupil and the appropriate agencies to find the best possible solution for everyone involved, he said.
But Todd said she did not believe that had happened in her son's case.
If it had, he would be able to read and write, she said.
