Students given buckets for toilets

INGLEWOOD, Calif., April 17 (UPI) -- Parents say the principal of a Inglewood, Calif., elementary school forced children to use buckets for toilets during a recent school lockdown.

Principal Angie Marquez of Worthingon Elementary School imposed the lockdown March 27 when nearly 40,000 middle and high school students across Southern California staged walkouts to protest immigration legislation, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The newspaper said some students were barred from using the restroom and were forced to use buckets placed in classroom corners or behind teachers' desks.

Tim Brown, director of operations for the Inglewood Unified School District, said the principal's order was an "honest mistake."

"When there's a nuclear attack, that's when buckets are used," Brown told the newspaper. The principal "followed procedure. She made a decision to follow the handbook. She just misread it."

Brown said the school district planned to update its emergency preparedness instructions and give more explicit direction to principals and teachers during emergencies, the newspaper said.