Disabled boy suffers 2nd-degree burns after coffee spill at St-Jrme school

Afamilywants moreanswers from school authorities after their 10-year-old sonwho uses a wheelchair and has serious developmental delayswas severely scalded by hot coffee at his school inSt-Jrme, Que.

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On Monday,Domenic Santonewas in his classroom atcoleHorizon-Soleilwhen he rolledhis wheelchair towards the coffeepot,managingto knock the potover.

According to the incident report from the school board, althoughstaffcaught the potas it fell, hotcoffee still spilled ontoDomenic'schestand leg.

He was rushed to hospital in St-Jrmeandtransferred to Montreal'sSainte-JustineChildren's Hospital because of theseverity of the burns.

"When I got there, he was screaming, yelling. There were burns allover his chest," said John Santone, Domenic's father.

Domenic has global developmental delaysand uses a wheelchair. His family lives in Terrebonne, however he travels toSt-Jrmetocole Horizon-Soleiltoaclassroom for children with disabilities.

Santone and his wife Sarina Ferrara Santone saidthey only received the one-page incident report on Friday morningfrom the school board, theCommissionScolaireRivireduNord,even though the accident happened lastMonday.

"When an accident happens, that report should be handed to the parentsright away," said Ferrara-Santone.

The report said the incident took only eight seconds.

The Santonesare left with a lot of questions.

"What's a pot of coffee doing at that school, and why do the childrenhave access to that coffee?" demandedJohn Santone.

The parents said the school is aware of Domenic'slevel of mobilityandsaid their son should not have been left unattended without the brake applied tohis wheelchair.

Incident 'troubling': school board

Nadyne Brochu, spokeswomanfor the Commission Scolaire Rivire 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 forchildren with disabilities," said Brochu.

Brochusaid the school board is now analyzing the incidentto find out exactly what happened and to prevent it from happening again at any of the board's schools.

The people who work thereare 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 boardhas been in contact with the family and is taking the incident very seriously.

The Santones, though, said it took multiple calls to theboardjustto get a copy of the incident report.

But Brochusaid 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.

"The people who work there are people who put a lot of heart into their work," saidBrochu. "There's no one who's not touched by this."