An eleven-year-old North Carolina student allegedly had his mouth taped shut by his sixth-grade English teacher after talking too much in class.
Catherine Webster received a text message from her son Brady in February saying that he didn’t know what to do with a picture of himself with layers of blue painter’s tape adhered to his mouth during class at Smithfield Middle School, Johnston County.
Horrified by the picture of her son who she described to be a chatterbox who had the propensity to clown about.
Catherine posted the startling picture to Facebook to bring to light her son’s account and his interaction with Dawn Felix who she refers to as Mrs Felix in the post.
Catherine said she hoped her post would act as an example to any other teachers or caregivers who may be walking a fine line, and she said she’d never met, seen or received an email from Mrs Felix, who allegedly used this bizarre punishment on at least three students.
But evidently, she should have, several times over, so that she could work with the teacher to correct her son Brady’s conduct in her class.
She said that his grades were good, so she had no reason to believe anything was amiss there because the teacher never once reached out to her.
The mother of three said other teachers claimed Brady got along well with others and enjoyed entertaining his classmates, and that he also had a tendency to clown around and be disruptive and talk too much.
She said that she was a reasonable person and a fair strict parent with no tolerance for disrespect and an understanding that teachers don’t have time for repetitive disruption, and that she also disciplines Brady at home when this happens.
After receiving the text message from her son who said he was humiliated by the experience, Catherine said she couldn’t hold back her sock and disappointment.
She said that other teachers had communicated their concerns about Brady’s behaviour and with her help, came up with solutions to keep disturbances in class to a minimum.
She said in the post that those teachers have had to redirect or correct this conduct and they had always emailed or contacted her to make her aware, and she said that they would give Brady a silent lunch or move him away from his buddies or in some cases, more serious but acceptable forms of punishment, and up until that point no hand had been laid on Brady.
Painter’s tape is not heavy-duty tape, but that’s not the point. The point is that the teacher should have had Brady leave the class if he was such a disruption, not tape his mouth together as if he was going to be tortured, and of course, this kind of tape is removable. The child’s hands were not bound together, but the fact is the teacher should have never been doing this to a young child in front of his friends with the intent of humiliating him.
I understand this teacher’s frustration. However, her actions were totally inappropriate, and while we’re living in a time when discipline in schools is virtually non-existent, protocols need to be observed.
What the teacher did to this child was assault. A teacher is not allowed to lay a hand on a student, and by taping his mouth, she was giving him the attention that he desired while interrupting everyone elses learning.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 