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BY Dollita Okine, 1:51pm June 12, 2025,

6-year-old boy burned by water fountain at New Jersey school

by Dollita Okine, 1:51pm June 12, 2025,
Photo credit: WABC

After her six-year-old returned from school with a severe burn, Matilda Ekeize is seeking answers. Ekeize told WABC’s Eyewitness News that her son, Idris, drank from a fountain at Orange’s Lincoln Avenue School that was accidentally set up to run hot water instead of cold.

The Kindergartener told Eyewitness News, “I put my cup up there, and then I turned on the cold water, super hot.”

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Idris hasn’t gone to school since the incident. According to his mother, he tried to get water from a gym dispenser and was severely burned by the scorching water.

The mother from New Jersey expressed her anger at the school for failing to call 911 or transport her kid to the hospital, though they had required her to sign a release ensuring that they would attend to her child’s needs in the event of an injury.

Ekeize claimed that instead of sending her son to the hospital, the school sent him back to the classroom.

Ekeize said, “This is definitely medical. That’s second-degree burns, so if they would have called EMS and sent him to the hospital, I probably would’ve been feeling a little bit more at ease. I wasn’t because now I had to call the ambulance.”

She revealed that she contacted the principal after finally learning what had happened.

“He’s telling me he doesn’t know the procedures, I said you don’t know the procedures when the child gets second-degree burns? He’s saying that the nurse is telling him that there’s an ointment that they put on the child’s skin until they make it to the ER. So you guys just don’t call EMS?” Ekeize stated.

READ ALSO: Mom angry after ‘whites only’ and ‘coloreds only’ signs are found above school water fountains

Idris’ emergency contact, a relative named Evelyn Green, claimed that after the 6-year-old was burned, the school contacted her.

“My concern is the lack of action after. That is an event that he’s probably going to remember forever and you guys were not there for him,” Green recounted. 

According to the distressed mother, the school district is looking into the situation.

In response, the school also released a brief statement that said in part, “At this time, the district is investigating this incident and at this time the district does not have any further comment.”

According to Ekeize, her son has endured trauma. 

“I never, never, never again. It’s not fun,” Idris said.

When Ekezie sent her son to the hospital, they confirmed that he had second-degree burns. Now, the family is looking for legal counsel.

READ ALSO: Mom goes viral for confronting her daughter’s bully on school bus: ‘Don’t let her bully y’all’

Last Edited by:Mildred Europa Taylor Updated: June 12, 2025

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