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| The school district said Wednesday that Blowe is on administrative leave with pay, that no disciplinary action has been taken and the district is 'reviewing training and safety protocols for its science labs'. |
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Georgia Teacher Set a student on fire with a flaming $5 bill
Daily Mail
Thu November 7, 2019
Area: Atlanta
A Georgia high school teacher 'froze in pure shock' when she demonstrated how a $5 bill soaked in alcohol would not burn but severely burned the face and body of a student when it got 'out of control'.
Malachi McFadden, 16, suffered third-degree burns on his face, neck and torso and had to undergo numerous surgeries after his chemistry teacher Bridgette Blowe, 36, bungled the 'burning money demonstration' at Redan High School on August 6.
Witness statements from students and teachers in a DeKalb County school system investigator's report released Wednesday, claimed that other staff members had to step in to put out the flames.
McFadden was in the front row when the flames spread across the desk but Blowe didn't advise him to stand 10 feet back or provide safety equipment, as required.
Blowe wrote in a statement included in the report that she's successfully done the demonstration - lighting an accelerant-soaked bill on fire - in previous years and for two other classes this year.
In this particular class, the second day of the child's junior year, the flame didn't burn out completely, 'so I attempted to extinguish the flame with water, but I reached for the alcohol instead, by mistake,' Blowe wrote.
Blowe said the glassware was mislabeled.
Blowe had tried to do the experiment the first day of classes using a mixture of water and alcohol, but it didn't work, according to witness statements.
She tried the demonstration again the next day using a mixture of water and ethanol. After soaking a $5 bill and lighting it, she put it in a bowl and 'added more ethanol to make the flame bigger,' the investigator concluded.
That 'caused the flame to become out of control,' spread across the lab table and burn McFadden, who had his head down.
The demonstration Blowe was attempting is popular on the internet but numerous videos also show the experiment going horribly wrong.
The report says it was unclear whether she was trying to put the fire out or 'trying to make the flames larger so that students could see the flame.' The investigator wrote that it was 'inconclusive as to whether or not Ms. Blowe's use of water or alcohol was accidental.'
Reached by phone Wednesday, Blowe declined to comment.
A report dated October 21 says Blowe violated district standards and that Regional Superintendent Sean Tartt recommended Blowe be fired, but Principal Janice Boger recommended she be suspended and receive training on classroom safety.
The school district said Wednesday that Blowe is on administrative leave with pay, that no disciplinary action has been taken and the district is 'reviewing training and safety protocols for its science labs.'
In a letter included in the report, Boger called Blowe a good teacher who, in this case, 'made an awful mistake.'
But L. Chris Stewart, a lawyer for McFadden, said they will likely end up suing for damages to cover his pain and suffering, as well as past and future medical costs, including plastic surgery.
'The only thing for them to do is to accept responsibility for it,' Stewart said of the school district.
McFadden told The Associated Press in a September interview that his hands still hurt constantly and he misses playing baritone saxophone in the band along with playing football and basketball. He hopes to return next semester.
He likes math and wants to be an engineer but has never really liked science. He'll have to take chemistry next year to graduate but said he feels nervous about that.
News outlets across the country have reported about students injured in chemistry class demonstrations in recent years, including one at a Manhattan high school that caused burns over about 31% of a student's body in 2014.
In July, a jury awarded that student nearly $60 million in damages for past and future pain and suffering.
The problem isn't new, said Ken Roy, chief safety compliance adviser for the National Science Teaching Association.
There's no national database that tracks such accidents, but Roy said he has anecdotal knowledge of at least 30 since the late 1990s that have ended up in court after students were seriously injured.
It may seem like there are more now because word spreads quickly on social media. That has prompted professional associations to step up their efforts to disseminate warnings and provide safety information for educators, Roy said.
'A science laboratory is a dangerous place,' Roy said. 'There's always going to be accidents, but of course you can make it safer to dramatically reduce that.'
Blowe had worked at Redan since August 2016 and previously as a science teacher at two other DeKalb County high schools from August 2007 through June 2013, according to school system employment records obtained by the AP through an open records request.
The system declined to release performance reviews because they are confidential under state law.
While a student at Georgia Southern University, Blowe worked as a teaching assistant in the chemistry department, according to an employment application. Among the responsibilities she listed: 'Made sure all laboratory procedures were run safely and properly.'
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