This whole thing is unbelievable. When I saw the subject line, I assumed it was some terrible accident. That it was done deliberately is staggering.

Dr Hugo G. Schmidt
Lab Manager, Cambridge CARES
Tel.: +65 9018 2051

________________________________________
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU> on behalf of Monona Rossol <0000030664c37427-dmarc-request**At_Symbol_Here**LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, April 9, 2022 12:08 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Teacher resigns after lighting student's hands on fire in science experiment

I agree whole heartly about the woeful lack of training, but what this also demonstrates as a lack of understanding of physical chemistry, flammability and a number of basic principles. That goes back to the level of training in just plain chemistry and physics. This is preventable if the individual chemist/teacher simply cogitates.

That cogitation would also involve looking at the SDS of the sanitizer because some contain enough aloe, glycerin or other thickeners to keep this stuff clinging to hands and burning longer and hotter than plain alcohol.

And I'm not good at predicting the behavior of children (or adults for that matter), but if avoiding burns depends on a specific defensive action by the child, that also is a huge risk factor that must be considered.

Monona




-----Original Message-----
From: Christal Lippincott <clippincott**At_Symbol_Here**JANESVILLE.K12.WI.US>
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU
Sent: Fri, Apr 8, 2022 11:16 am
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Teacher resigns after lighting student's hands on fire in science experiment

As a high school chemistry teacher who has taught for going on 25 years I have had one (yes... I said one) safety presentation (2 hours) (from Flinn Scientific) to train in safety matters. This was after teaching for many years. The student teaching experience had zero opportunities (and as of 2018 (my last student teacher) it still doesn't)).

Additionally, this happened at a middle school. For years now middle schools have been hiring elementary education majors who may have had 1 science course in their bachelor program. They have zero safety training (I would put $$$ on it). They are undertrained.

What this teacher did went against all levels of common sense and should have never happened, I am not trying to defend her, but trying to make you aware of the woeful lack of experience and safety training that is in the K-12 school systems in America.

Christal Lippincott
Craig High School
608-743-5371
Room 304 x4027
Teacher: AP Chemistry, Honors Chemistry, and Chemistry



On Fri, Apr 8, 2022 at 10:09 AM Neal Langerman <chemsaf**At_Symbol_Here**gmail.com<mailto:chemsaf**At_Symbol_Here**gmail.com>> wrote:
Rob this CBS report has a clip of the activity near the end.

https://www.google.com/search?q=granberry+middle+school+fire+video&oq=granberry+middle+school+fire+video&aqs=chrome..69i57j33i299.42974j0j7&client=ms-android-verizon-us-rvc3&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#

Neal Langerman, PhD

On Fri, Apr 8, 2022, 06:57 Info <info**At_Symbol_Here**ilpi.com<mailto:info**At_Symbol_Here**ilpi.com>> wrote:
Can someone find the videos on social media? I have no social media presence or savvy. Thanks.

The recent lull has now been broken… https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/04/07/texas-teacher-sets-students-hands-fire/9498190002/

A Texas middle school teacher has resigned after putting hand sanitizer on a student's hands then lighting them on fire, leaving the student with third degree burns.

A 37-year-old teacher at Granbury Middle School was conducting a science experiment last week when she put hand sanitizer on the hands of a 12-year-old student and lit them on fire, according to a statement from the Granbury Police Department.

The experiment was conducted with other students without incident, but the 12-year-old suffered third degree burns on his hands.

"The Granbury Police Department responded to Granbury Middle School for a report of a student who had been burned on campus," the statement said.

The Granbury Independent School District, in a tweet posted Tuesday, said the teacher resigned and is no longer an employee of the district.

The Granbury PD said the incident is under investigation and "will be submitted to the District Attorney's Office for review."

Additional reports.

https://www.today.com/parents/parents/science-teacher-hands-sanitizer-fire-rcna23446

It looks like every class that day had a group of students that volunteer to do it," Grizzard told NBC affiliate KXAS. "There was also another classroom that was doing the same thing where there was no incident.

https://ktemnews.com/not-good-texas-teacher-resigns-after-purposely-lighting-students-hands-on-fire/

https://www.fox4news.com/news/granbury-isd-teacher-resigns-after-student-burned-in-science-experiment-gone-wrong

Lt. Grizzard says investigators have interviewed several students and are reviewing a possible video of the incident circulating on social media.

"My first thought was that it definitely sounded irresponsible," he said. "But you know, again, whether it's criminal or not is not up to us to decide. That's going to be the DA's office that decides that."

FOX 4 reached out to the Hood County DA's Office, but it declined to comment on a pending investigation.

Lt. Grizzard says the teacher could be charged with injury to a child. But he says the DA could also decide to send the case to a grand jury for review.

https://meaww.com/granbury-middle-school-student-burned-after-teacher-puts-sanitizer-on-hands

The student's parents took to Facebook to share some visuals of the horrifying incident. The father also informed readers that his son received due treatment and had been discharged.

Online, many parents were taking sides - while some defended the teacher, many others called the experiment "inexcusable". An angry parent said that "putting a flammable substance on bare hands and igniting it is not a science experiment. It's just stupid." Another said that "there's absolutely NO excuse for putting a child in danger like that!!"
…

Some sources told CBS that the incident happened after a class finished a test early and the teacher asked students if they wanted to see something "cool".

Photos and videos posted online show the blisters from serious burns the student suffered. A video shows the student quickly putting out a fire on his hands, which was covered in sanitizer.

Dr. Anthony Pizon, chief of medical toxicology at UPMC in Pittsburgh, said, "Hand sanitizers with high concentrations of ethanol and hydroxypropyl are flammable. Any amount of hand sanitizer can light on fire. The volume controls how rapidly the flame will spread. If you have a little bit on your hands, a little bit will light on fire

Looks like if the district took half as much effort at reviewing laboratory safety as they did their library, this wouldn't have happened: https://cjtackett.medium.com/granbury-isd-is-reviewing-books-a0579c36588e

Rob Toreki

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