Story Archive

A Fecal Matter

Eliza Medina, 11, told grade-school officials in Gustine, Texas, that she did not want to lower her pants for them. “I felt uncomfortable, and I didn’t want to do it,” she said. But officials insisted: “someone” had been leaving fecal matter in the school gym, and they wanted to check everyone’s underwear to try to find the culprit. Parents complained and the news spread nationally. Although the superintendent said the students weren’t required to lower their pants all that far — just, Eliza Medina said, “to where your butt is” — the district said the officials involved were placed on leave. Maria Medina, Eliza’s mother, said the town of 457 was more concerned about its image than about the kids. (AC/WFAA) ...It’s one thing to humiliate children, another to embarrass a town.