A Waxahachie mother claims her school district failed her son when his school didn't provide the help he needed.
Natasha Carriere's son, Nicholas, has always had special needs. He was born four-months premature with Cerebral palsy, spina bifida, and autism. He's been wheelchair-bound since July, when he fell off a tricycle. Since then, Nicholas has lost much of his mobility and speech.
Carriere said she told his school, Dunaway Elementary, he needed help using the restroom and changing his diaper, but his first day at school last Wednesday, Carriere said the school nurse didn't help. "She wheeled him into a handicap stall, from my understanding," said Carriere. "And basically told him that he needed to figure it out himself."
Nicholas was not always in a wheelchair. Pictures show him on school field trips using leg braces. The wheelchair is new since the summer.
"We were just kinda getting started with our physical therapy," explained Carriere. "So he hasn't safely been taught how to move to and from his chair."
Carriere said she knew something was wrong when Nicholas got home from school last week with sores on his back side, and 9 of the 10 diapers she numbered and sent to school with him came home in his bag.
"His chair has feces on it. He had dried feces on his bottom. His diaper was full," explained Carriere. "So even though he may have some delays and disabilities, he's still a 10-year old boy who sat in a class full of his peers in a dirty diaper."
Carriere believes it comes down to money.
"They have the funds. I think it's just the special needs community is last on their list of things to provide for," said Carriere. "It's really sad, because they're the ones that need it the most."
A spokeswoman for the Waxahachie Independent School District told NBC 5 that federal privacy laws prevented them from commenting on the case, but said, "The safety and care of all of our student is our number one priority."
When asked if he wanted to go back to school, Nicholas moaned and shook his head 'no'. "He loved school before all of this," his mom said.
