SHERBURNE – The Sherburne-Earlville school district was ordered to pay $75,000 in damages to a student last week following a civil trial. Jurors found the district was negligent in denying a second grader access to restrooms during a bus trip from Syracuse in 2007.

At least five of the six jurors agreed Sherburne-Earlville teachers acted negligently when they denied repeated requests from a 9-year-old student to pull over a school bus so she could use the bathroom.

S-E Superintendent Gayle Hellert said the school intends to appeal the decision and offered no further comment.

The district’s defense attorney Mark O. Chieco of Petrone and Petrone in Utica, also said the school will file an appeal, explaining he couldn’t comment because of the pending litigation.

During the hour and 15-minute bus ride from a zoo in Syracuse, the victim’s aunt, who testified at the trial and was a chaperone for the trip, said she also urged teachers to stop the bus, but to no avail. The aunt testified her niece asked to use the bathroom about 15 minutes after the bus left Syracuse.

Over an hour later, the girl lost control about 10 minutes from Sherburne and urinated on the school bus, said the plaintiff’s attorney, Ronald R. Benjamin of Binghamton.

Contradicting a stance by the district that other students were not aware of the accident, Benjamin said the incident was immediately apparent to peers as urine flowed beneath the seats and through the aisle. He also told jurors classmates could overhear the discussions between the teachers, the aunt and victim.

Benjamin also entered into evidence a medical diagnosis showing the girl contracted a urinary infection, which the defense argued was a direct result of the incident. The mother testified her daughter had never contracted such an infection before.

Benjamin said the lack of compassion by employees made the district responsible for the cost of the resulting social embarrassment and medical issues.

The mother testified that her daughter was removed from school for two days following the incident because of “abdominal pain.”