The Connecticut State Board of Labor Relations (CSBLR) determined the Hartford Public School (HPS) system violated its contract with the Hartford Teachers Union after it changed language on its website to allow for children who aren’t potty-trained to enter its prekindergarten programs and unilaterally instituted a standard operating procedure to require teachers to change diapers or pull-ups.

According to the decision, teachers noticed the difference when they were increasingly called upon to change diapers or pull-ups as more and more children who weren’t toilet trained entered the classroom. Previous HPS Early Childhood website language required children to be toilet trained and indicated that teachers would only “coach” young children in how to properly use the bathroom if an accident occurred. 

“HPS prekindergarten programs expect children enrolled to be fully toilet trained,” the previous iteration of the website said. “Children must be wearing underwear. The HPS program staff will assist the children (through coaching) with toileting skills should accidents occur, but children should be able to complete toileting activities independently.”

Several longtime teachers named in the decision listed between five and seven students in their pre-k classes of 20-25 students who were not toilet trained and required the teacher to subsequently clean and change them as opposed to “coaching.” In a 2025 survey conducted by the union, 72.2 percent of pre-k through first grade teachers reported having students who were not toilet trained, and 85 percent of the teachers thought it was the para-educator’s job to assist children with toileting.

“Diapering is wiping bottoms. And you have soiled diapers. We don’t have the facilities. We do get gloves, but we get gloves because we serve food. They’re not for diapering,” one teacher said, describing the difference between coaching students to use the bathroom and diapering. “We don’t have anywhere to put the diapers. The children have to lay on the floor. If that were my child, I would not be happy with that.”

Teacher complaints were brought to HFT Union President Carol Gale in 2024, who then raised the issue with the superintendent. However, during negotiations over a draft of standard operating procedure for toileting students, the former chief of schools changed the website to welcome all children into the pre-k program “regardless of whether they are able to use the toilet independently or not.”

“The HPS staff will assist children with toileting skills should accidents occur, supporting children to complete toileting activities independently,” the website said, despite the union never agreeing to the standard operating procedure draft. HPS then instituted the standard operating procedure, which indicated that all pre-k and early childhood staff were responsible for toileting and changing diapers.

The Labor Board, however, determined this new standard operating procedure “unilaterally changes a previously informal and ad hoc arrangement into a condition of employment,” according to the decision, and that “toileting and diapering does not fall within the teacher job description, unlike the job descriptions in the record for kindergarten paraeducator, early childhood educator, and classroom paraeducator.”

“We find this omission to be significant since, when toileting and diapering is a job duty, the applicable job descriptions identify it as such in clear and unambiguous language,” the labor board wrote in their January 6 decision. “Moreover, the record contains credible testimony that teachers’ involvement in hands-on toileting activities has historically been limited to dealing with occasional accidents when non-instructional staff are absent or otherwise occupied.”

“We credit the testimony from current and recent pre-k/kindergarten teachers that they are experiencing an increase in enrolled students with little or no toilet training and concur… that ‘wiping bottoms’ is substantially different than coaching a student concerning when and how to use the toilet,” the board continued.

HPS was ordered to cease and desist unilaterally changing teachers’ conditions of employment, bargain with the union over toileting and diapering students, and withdraw the standard operating procedure the school issued until such time as both parties reach an agreement.

The HPS Early Childhood website, however, still indicates that students do not need to be toilet trained, and that staff will work with the family to “design a plan for the child to acquire this skill at school.”

“HPS pre-k welcomes all children into school-based programs regardless of whether they are able to use the toilet independently or not,” the website states. “The HPS program staff will assist children with toileting skills should accidents occur, supporting children to complete toileting activities independently. In the event a child is not fully toilet trained Pre-k staff will coach the child and work together with the family to design a plan for the child to acquire this skill at school.”

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