Disabled boy suffers 2nd-degree burns after coffee spill at St-Jérôme school
Ainslie MacLellan | CBC News | Posted: November 6, 2015 7:11 PM | Last Updated: November 6, 2015
10-year-old boy scalded by spilled coffee may need skin graft for severe chest burns
A family wants more answers from school authorities after their 10-year-old son – who uses a wheelchair and has serious developmental delays – was severely scalded by hot coffee at his school in St-Jérôme, Que.
On Monday, Domenic Santone was in his classroom at École Horizon-Soleil when he rolled his wheelchair towards the coffee pot, managing to knock the pot over.
According to the incident report from the school board, although staff caught the pot as it fell, hot coffee still spilled onto Domenic's chest and leg.
He was rushed to hospital in St-Jérôme and transferred to Montreal's Sainte-Justine Children's Hospital because of the severity of the burns.
"When I got there, he was screaming, yelling. There were burns all over his chest," said John Santone, Domenic's father.
Domenic has global developmental delays and uses a wheelchair. His family lives in Terrebonne, however he travels to St-Jérôme to École Horizon-Soleil to a classroom for children with disabilities.
Santone and his wife Sarina Ferrara Santone said they only received the one-page incident report on Friday morning from the school board, the Commission Scolaire Rivière du Nord, even though the accident happened last Monday.
"When an accident happens, that report should be handed to the parents right away," said Ferrara-Santone.
The report said the incident took only eight seconds.
The Santones are left with a lot of questions.
"What's a pot of coffee doing at that school, and why do the children have access to that coffee?" demanded John Santone.
The parents said the school is aware of Domenic's level of mobility and said their son should not have been left unattended without the brake applied to his wheelchair.
"What's a pot of coffee doing at that school, and why do the children have access to that coffee?" demanded John Santone.
The parents said the school is aware of Domenic's level of mobility and said their son should not have been left unattended without the brake applied to his wheelchair.
Incident 'troubling': school board
Nadyne Brochu, spokeswoman for the Commission Scolaire Rivière du Nord, called the incident "troubling."
"The school board certainly questions why there was a container of hot coffee in a classroom, especially a classroom for children with disabilities," said Brochu.
Brochu said the school board is now analyzing the incident to find out exactly what happened and to prevent it from happening again at any of the board's schools.
The people who work there are people who put a lot of heart into their work. There's no one who's not touched by this. - Nadyne Brochu, school board spokeswoman
"For sure, we have a responsibility to offer our students a safe environment," said Brochu. "We've reminded our staff to be vigilant."
Brochu said the school board has been in contact with the family and is taking the incident very seriously.
The Santones, though, said it took multiple calls to the board just to get a copy of the incident report.
The Santones, though, said it took multiple calls to the board just to get a copy of the incident report.
But Brochu said four days represents a normal delay for writing up an incident report.
She said the school board would have liked to release the incident report more quickly, but said officials have to follow certain procedures when releasing incident reports with sensitive information, including talking to the board's insurance company.
She said all of the staff at the specialized school are shaken by what happened.
She said all of the staff at the specialized school are shaken by what happened.
"The people who work there are people who put a lot of heart into their work," said Brochu. "There's no one who's not touched by this."