Two teachers and two assistants at a Texas school are being investigated for allegedly giving children ‘sleepy stickers’ to help manage their behaviour. The incident unravelled after one of the students, a four-year-old, brought one of the sleepy stickers home from school.
The teachers are now on leave while the school investigates the allegations. The students allegedly being given the stickers are in the preschool program at the school.
‘My teacher gives it to me for sleeping time’Â
Lisa Luviano was the first mother to notice the sleepy sticker on her daughter. She questioned the sticker, which had a starry-night design and her daughter, Layne, explained that it was a “sleeping sticker”.
“I asked, ‘Where did you get this?’ And she said, ‘My teacher gives it to me for sleeping time.'” Layne added that other kids in the class get the stickers as well,” Lisa told Houston’s ABC13.
As soon as Lisa discovered the sleepy sticker she contacted the school, Northgate Crossing Elementary School, and demanded answers, but the school would not give her a straight answer. After two weeks of no explanation, Lisa contacted some of the other parents to see if their children had also been given sleepy stickers.
 “I showed it to my 4-year-old, and she said, ‘Yes, that’s the sleepy sticker,'” another parent Melissa Gilford said.
The parents then uncovered the name of the patches’ manufacturer, Klova and the ingredient list, which included melatonin and ashwagandha, L-theanine, GABA, Cosmoperine, passion flower, lavender oil, valerian, and hops in amounts that seem to be intended for adults.
The supplements were allegedly distributed via stick-on patches applied to the skin. Klova’s website states, “We guarantee your most restful sleep ever within 30 days” of using the patches. It also explicitly states that the patches “are formulated for persons 18 and older”.
Amazon.com.au sells the product with instructions on use, stating, “Simply apply one patch to a clean, hairless part of the body with good blood flow (like the top of the foot or shoulder) about an hour before bed – then discard upon waking.”
“Giving them drugs to make them sleep to keep them quiet”Â
Another parent spoke out, stating that she had noticed behavioural changes in her son since school started. He wasn’t eating or sleeping at night and crying much more. Many other parents said the same thing about their children, and some even took their kids to the hospital to have their children checked out.
“Every night, my son will come home. He’s staying up. He’s not sleeping,” parent Najala Abdullah told ABC13. “They’re giving them drugs to make them sleep to keep them quiet.”Â
School responds to allegations of sleepy stickers
The school later issued an email to the parents about the allegations. The school requested that parents not discuss the situation. Since the allegations, the school district has also issued a statement saying police are investigating the situation. The two teachers accused of giving the children sleepy stickers have been dismissed, and the two assistants are suspended for the time being.
The parents of the children state that this is not enough, especially considering they were never told about the sleepy stickers in the first place and the initial concerns were ignored for weeks.
It was only after the parents went to the local media that the school took action.
Lisa, the concerned mum who first uncovered the sleepy stickers on her daughter, stated, “My trust was broken by this teacher we opened our hearts to.”
Carmen Roe, a legal analyst at Houston’s KHOU, says that “there seems to be no actual or potential harm to the children” using the sleepy stickers.
She also stated it’s unlikely that criminal charges will be filed, but the incident could result in a civil lawsuit for “gross negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and arguably civil assault”.
