By William A. Weathers
The Cincinnati Enquirer

OVER-THE-RHINE - Technically, Pauline Childs violated school policy when she brought a child under 6 weeks old into Oak Tree Montessori on Wednesday morning.

Childs, 34, the school principal, delivered her third child - a healthy boy weighing 9 pounds, 2 ounces - in a school hallway about 11:40 a.m. - a day past her due date.

"The baby just decided this was the day and this was the time," said Cincinnati Fire Department paramedic Tamara Thomas, who helped with the delivery.

"She gave new meaning to bringing your child to work,'' said Sarah Basch, the school's development director. Both mother and child were doing well at Christ Hospital on Wednesday night.

The unscheduled event began around 11:30 a.m. when Childs - a resident of Walnut Hills and the founder and owner of the 5-year-old public charter school on East Central Parkway - began feeling ill. She went into a restroom, where her water broke, Basch said. Cincinnati fire personnel arrived shortly.

"At 11:42 a.m., we had a new member of the Oak Tree family in our hallway," Basch said. "The faculty formed a big circle around her to protect her modesty."

Most of the school's students-ages 6 weeks to 12 years old - were at lunch at the time, she said.

"We don't take them before 6 weeks,'' Basch said. "This was kind of a violation of policy."

E-mail bweathers@enquirer.com