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Subscribe to RSSA mother in Louisiana is pursuing legal action against a substitute teacher she says put duct tape across her child’s mouth.
Michelle Droody says it took her a week to figure out why her 9-year-old son, a student at J. Wallace James Elementary School in Lafayette, La., was so upset.
“He just told me he didn’t want to go back to school no more,” Wallace told KATC TV in Lafayette. “And he didn’t want to be friends with anybody in his class or school.”
Only after school officials interviewed about 100 students did Droody learn that a substitute teacher used red duct tape, normally used for arts and crafts projects, to quiet her son.
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Dr. Pat Cooper, superintendent of Lafayette Parish Public Schools, confirmed the incident to KATC, which happened Sept. 12, and said the substitute treated the student both “outside the boundaries of [their] discipline matrix” and “outside the boundaries of common sense.”
Cooper said the teacher had been disciplined.
“We fell like we’ve taken the necessary disciplinary action against that teacher, but the parent always has the right to take additional charges.
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Droody said she intends to pursue further criminal charges.
“Now he has to face these same kids for the rest of the year that were sitting there laughing at him, the embarrassment and the shame that goes along with having someone you’re supposed to respect that comes and duct tapes your mouth shut in front of everybody," Droody said.
Lafayette Police Department Public Information Officer Paul Mouton told NBC News police were contacted by the school, and a report has been filed and police are actively investigating the incident.
“If investigators determine that enough probable exists, the detective in charge will issue a warrant and have the substitute teacher arrested,” Mouton said. “If there’s not enough cause, the case will be submitted for review.”
This isn't the first time a teacher has tried to quiet a student by using duct tape.
A third-grade teacher in Albuquerque was placed on administrative leave last October for allegedly duct-taping the mouths of two students to keep them quiet. A first grade teacher in Massachusetts was fired after she duct-taped 20 students, although she insisted the duct tape was tied to a book her students read earlier in the year.
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I should have been a lawyer in America.
When I was in 4th grade (MANY years ago) we had a kid in class that COULD NOT SHUT UP! Good kid, not trying to cause trouble - but he could not stop talking. The teacher tried everything over several weeks... change seats, standing at the black board, go to the office, even made him sit there holding on to his tongue and he still talked (which isn't easy to do when you are holding your tongue - try it). Finally the teacher told him to be quiet or he would get his mouth taped shut. Of course, the student wasn't quiet so he got the tape (masking, not duct). Wasn't on for long, maybe 10 min or so, but that finally made an impression on the student - and the rest of us! From that day on, when he got out of line, the teacher just reached in the drawer and put the masking tape on the desk - that's all it took.
Was it the ideal solution? Probably not. But that poor teacher had tried everything else in the book with no success. And as far as I know there was not one complaint from the kid's parents either.
This case is a little different, with it being a substitute - and duct tape (that crap hurts!). but if my child's regular teacher felt the need to get out the masking tape I would NOT be calling the cops or a lawyer.
Sorry, I don't think the State or teachers should bel allowed to excute punishment in which parents would loose rights or have their children taken by the state & forced to attend anger mangement & parenting classes for the same actions.
True, parents need to step & do their parental duties these days which has become a lost skill do the socialists attitude that the Governement & public childcare is responsible for the life we created.
When my children were in school, I would tell teachers & staff they had no rights to put a hand on my children however if they ( my children) were being disrespectful or out of line to call me, I would be there to take of the situation. Once I even changed mywork shift so I could attend classes with my oldest, talk about humilation. I was there during class time, lunch time, & play time. From that point on when my son realize I took education & his negative behavior seriosly, he became the ideal, repsectful student & even received citizenship rewards. Parents need to step & take respnsiblity for raising their children instead of passing the buck. I sent my children to school for an education, not for free childcare.
As for the teacher, she need fired, assault charges brought, moreover, we need a national list so these people can never be teacher again in the US.
The teacher is a hero, Its not the teachers its the parents I see it all the time. When I was a kid my Father only had to say shut up one time and its a direct command with a meaning similar to "be quiet". NO TAPE WAS NEEDED
Was if fear or respect. No this teacher is not a hero she is an abuser.
Well my Dad was HERO WWII and this teacher is a HERO.....The kid should have his azz warmed up, in fact the mother should have her azz kicked also
What you do is you pick out the biggest kid in class and threaten to give him a detention if anyone talks. He'll repay the kid who got him the detention and there you have it, problem solved.
Great... incite violence in children because you can't control your classroom. Classy.
Yes, classy and effective. Thank you Howie.
Now THAT would be an easy lawsuit to win!
I don't know that I would go so far as to sue the bigger kid. He would just be reacting the only way he knows how.
Wonderful solution, purveyor. What a great way to institutionalize bullying behavior. (end sarcasm)
not if i'm there.......
Now you're just being intentionally dense. You (the teacher) and the school would be sued, and you know it.
Oh I wouldn't actually do this. I'd never pit two children against each other and hope they could work out a discipline problem that my lack of leadership probably caused in the first place. I'd just duct tape the noisy kids' mouths shut and go for a smoke.
Interesting, hasn't school shootings over bullying taught society nothing. Humans take so much before they retialuate. Bullies cover all age groups
Sorry. No smoking on campus. ;-)
This is a case of child abuse. No teacher has the right to humiliate any student, any child, for that matter. I remember when I was in the 10th grade and the teacher for the class asked me a question. Since I didn't know the answer, this teacher simply said "what are you, stupid?". When I went home, I told my dad about the incident and he was pissed off, went to the school the next day with me, pounded on his classroom door and shouted "you, out here, now".
My dad was talking at the top of his lungs and told this teacher that "nobody calls my mom stupid" and gave this teacher a stern "talking to". His entire classroom was laughing at him (the teacher) because they never saw anything like this before and knew immediately what it was about. The Principle, VP, school administrator reprimanded the teacher for it and I was transferred to another class.
Teachers are always breaking the boundaries of what's allowed and they are not allowed to punish a student unless they have the permission of the parent. I hope this substitute teacher gets fired and charged with endangering the welfare of a child. This teacher needs to be made an example of.
The Principle, Vice Principle, another school administrator and the police liason officer all came up to the third floor and asked what the problem was.
child abuse MY AZZ, you're dad should had kick your azz for not knowing the answer
First of all ... there is probably a lot of exageration to your story. Second of all the school has every right to discipline your children. If you don't like it you have many other choices. Third of all it is easy to break boundaries that are so tight and constrictive as is. Nowadays your dad wouldn't even make it past the front office without it being trespassing.
Putting duct tape on a kid's mouth does NOT amount to child abuse. It's called punishment for bad behavior. It's the same as bending your kid over your knee and giving him/her a couple of whacks on the backside. One or two whacks with your hand on your kid's butt isn't abuse, it's discipline.
Sure it's embarassing for the kid, but things like this pass and the classmates will forget about it after a while.
You are actually proud of that Wolfe? The one time I witnessed a parent come to a class to yell at a teacher all I got from it was, 'no wonder that kid is such a brat if that is how their parents act'. I would have been beyond embarrassed if either of my parents had gone to my school to complain about such a minor incident. Either way, getting you transferred out of the class sounds like a gift to that teacher.
It's not child abuse by any stretch of the imagination. The child was being abusive to the rest of the class by not allowing the teacher to teach.
My dad was talking at the top of his lungs and told this teacher that "nobody calls my mom stupid"
This doesn't make any sense. Are you your father's mother? How is that even possible?
How about the parents raise their damn kids instead of the TV doing the job. The parents are the ones who should be embarrassed having obnoxious offspring-- but of course that would mean you would have to take personal responsibility.
Tape to his mouth and a palm to his rear. Having 99% suffer at the hands of the 1% as they do in some political minds is not acceptable.
Any man or woman hits one of mine I will do the same my father did when I was physically attack by a male teacher. He walked quietly into the classroom, lifted the teacher off the floor up against the wall and told him" ever lay hand on the child again I will come back & wipe your ass all over this school. No one has the right to physically attack a child. Ah my hero. The good old days of right & wrong.
sebrad - we don't KNOW this to be true - but it most likely is. Parent up
haha this is hilarious, i would do that if i was a sub. That kid is being a pussy and the mom, like almost every mother these days, is being an overreacting bitch. this is why kids these days have zero respect.
Well, I agree with the sub teacher, if your kid can't shut up inside the classroom after you've been told to be quiet. Then your kid deserve to have duct tape on his mouth.
The teacher acted inappropriately, this is true. Teachers are at a disadvantage when trying to discipline children these days - this is also true. But one part of the story stuck out the most to me - quote from the mom"
"he didn’t want to go back to school no more". Maybe that's because mom clearly didn't go to school no more?
When I was a child,I had such bad allergies and sinus issues, I couldn't breathe through my nose. It wasn't until I was close to 25 that I could do it consistently. I remember one day when my 2nd grade teacher got fed up and told us all we had to keep our mouths closed. Being 7, I took that literally and got so upset I started to cry because I thought I would get in trouble if she saw me open my mouth to take a breath. This duct tape scenario was about my absolute worst nightmare. Still makes me panic a little to think about trying to get enough oxygen if someone did this to me.
Just to add a little perspective for all of you who think it's no big deal to tape a kid's mouth shut. It's cruel and the teacher should be fired.
I agree-it is cruel. Sounds like not too many of you went to Catholic school, I had tape on my mouth in Kindergarten for talking, maybe first or second day of school. Great introduction to school for a 5 year old! In the scheme of things, though, it was nothing compared to other horror stories I heard of AND witnessed! HUMILIATION was big back then, especially in Catholic school.
Tom 1921301-you are wrong, I am 59 years old and remember it like it was yesterday, especially because I was NOT the one that was talking! I guess I should be thankful for small favors, it was just scotch tape, not duct tape!
This parent is a total idiot. I would make my kid go back to school and punish him for disrespecting his teacher. Maybe if we let more adults discipline our kids there would be less bullies and problems at schools.
Welllll...maybe the kid should have shut his mouth..
Why not, as a parent, try and laugh this off as...well you'll know next time won't you. I'm not all for humiliation of kids, so I definitely think she should have called the school. But I wouldn't have said anything in front of my son. She's going to make him believe that he's always a victim and never be able to get over anything. He's a boy. Boy's grow up to be men. Men do this kind of crap to each other all the time. Their brains are like dogs and they develop a hierarchy amongst themselves. If you want your kid to be the top dog when he's an adult, he's going to have to take this kind of thing in stride as a kid.
It all starts in the home. It is the duty of the parents to teach their children to respect adults and give the child guidelines about how to behave in class.
The teacher is there to teach the whole class the lesson of the day.
When one child's actions interrupt normal lesson procedures they should be given a note to take to the Principal's office. The note should read, "Explain to me why I must behave in class." The Principal should remind that child how to behave correctly.
When a child is not taught by their parents to behave correctly in class, and they continue to disrupt class, that child should be sent back home to their parents who should teach them to behave correctly in class.
For Christ's sake, people are such Nancies these days.
"My child has to face those kids for the rest of the year knowing they were laughing at him". Oh boo hoo, so we was embarrassed in front of his peers for a few minutes. Kids do that themselves on a daily basis.
But when adults state by their actions or lack of actions that such humiliation when done to this child is okay it tells the other students its okay for them to bully/harass/torment this child also. That's not okay.
This substitute teacher has created a hostile environment for this child that WILL follow them for the rest of their school days.
And for all of you spouting off about how this child's parents should teach him to respect the teacher, I'm sure all of you advocating for the teacher are also teaching your children how to bully kids like this. Because bullying IS taught at home.
If the kid is that bad, he probably doesn't have any friends anyway.
genenut - Your last paragraph doesn't make sense. Telling parents to BE parents had nothing to do with teaching kids to be bullies. You are trying to make a connection that does not exist.
I have some duct tape for you wryview...
Genenut - I followed the rules when I was in school. My parents would have disciplined me worse than anything the teacher could have done to me.
Too bad you're not still in school....
What? It wouldn't matter if I were in school. I would follow the rules. Therefore, I would not get into trouble. You make NO sense.
Me-1176621=pussy, I bet you were baby'd as a child werent you
What kind of person makes fun of a child's medical issues?
When I hear the term "child's medical issues" I think of childhood cancer, diabetes, and other serious medical conditions; not allergies and plugged sinuses. Grow a pair.
I have a problem with this. Nowhere in this article, does it state how this kid was acting in class. So, unless we know what was going on, I side with this teacher. I have a feeling that this kid is a constant problem, disrupting the rest of the class, and interfering with everyone else's education.
Because of parents like this, we are raising a generation of morons, who will never be able to compete in world job market or function as productive members of society.
I am a firm believer that children have no rights until they legally become an adult. Until then, they should be taught to respect fellow humans, and should live under the auspices of their parents, and face consequences when they act like an idiot.
Great job on this one. Another useless jellyfish entering society...
I agree with your comments on respect, but the child does have rights. In this day when there sre so many predators out there it is the parents job to teach respect for others but more importantly to respect themselves. That their body is their own and that no one has the right to physically touch them in any way that is threatening or uncomfortable. Even asking your child to hug an adult that they are not comfortable around is sending the wrong message. Discipline should be the parents job, but sadly the majority are failing. The schools need more options for getting these kids out of the classroom and away from the ones that want to be in school and learn either temporarily or permanantly.
Kid probably deserved it.
Whatever happened to moving the child's desk next to the teacher's? Or making one of the chatterboxes switch seats with another student across the room? Adhesives were not required to maintain order when I was in public school in the 70s (Tennessee). Of course, back then, so much as talking back to a teacher elicited a huge gasp of disbelief from the class, rivaled only by the bigger gasp the class let out when he got his butt paddled in front of the class about 10 seconds later!
My son tells me a trip to the principal these days is more of a pep talk ("make better choices next time, okay?") than what it used to be... punishment, a call home, and more of the same at home!
How is moving the desk going to make the kid shut up?
I was duct taped to my seat in 2nd grade. I probably deserved it. My parents didn't sue and I got over it.
Our military can drop drone bombs on women and children, but put a little duct tape on a kid's mouth and its grounds for lawsuits and termination... nice world we live in.
A) this is off topic and politically and B) our military operates in THEATERS OF WAR which is a different set of rules than civilian life.
a School is not a war zone. NO relevance to the topic at hand.
You think a school is NOT a war zone? Have you been a school recently?
Again I have some duct tape for you wryview.
Answer my question.
I refuse to have a battle of wits with an obviously UNARMED opponent.
I believe YOU are the one who is unarmed. You can't even put together a coherent sentence.
If you cant see the difference between a battlefield in Afghanistan and the average public elementary school I think that speaks volumes about your intelligence.
Let's be clear if I put Duct Tape on my child to quiet him or her and the school found out about it I would be answering my door to a child protection agent and a cop. I would probably lose said child to the foster care system and spend months getting them back. But when a teacher does this they are afforded a different result. Give me a break wrond is always wrong and this was wrong.
“He just told me he didn’t want to go back to school no more,”
1. Obviously he was having trouble keeping his mouth shut.
2. If he can't keep his mouth shut he won't learn.
3. Therefore he will spoke like his mudder did above