Faith Murray, a three-year-old Ottawa toddler was suspended from her school for smuggling in seemingly harmless contraband - a cheese sandwich.
Randy Murray, Faith’s father, told CTV News that he gave his daughter a cheese sandwich on Monday for a snack on their way to the Centre de l'enfant Aux 4 Vents daycare. But she didn’t eat the sandwich and took it into the school with her. A staffer noticed and slapped Faith with a three-day suspension.
The daycare has a “no outside food” policy due to food allergies, but Murray said that he was still surprised by the decision. “I thought they were kidding. I literally thought it was a joke. I smiled and laughed, but nobody else was smiling,” he told CTV.
“We do have children with multiple allergies and the parents are more than happy that we have all these things in place to protect the children,” daycare director Deb Ducharme told CBC. The site noted that if Faith had brought in peanuts, she would have been expelled.
Whatever the policy is, Murray is not happy. The Huffington Post notes that he told The Ottawa Sun that the administration needs to come up with a new policy.
“If I got a warning, I’d admit my mistake and move on. But it seems they want to penalize the parents. There’s no logic to it,” Murray said. “I’m going to the media because I think people have to speak up when something’s fishy.”
Ducharme told media outlets that she doesn’t plan on changing the policy. However, she will no longer have to deal with Murray, who is looking for other daycare centers for Faith and his children.
image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
