Teacher resigns after allegedly taping student to desk

AP ^ | 3-3-04 | JIM SALTER

[Indy Pendance]

A southeast Missouri teacher resigned last month after duct-taping a misbehaving seventh-grader to his desk and covering his mouth with tape, the district's superintendent said Wednesday.

The parents of 14-year-old Tommy Brindley said the boy nearly suffocated before freeing himself about 15 minutes later.

It happened Feb. 19 at the elementary/middle school in Oran, a town of about 1,000 residents 120 miles south of St. Louis. The Oran School District has 370 students and two schools.

Tommy was in detention for being late to school three times, his father, Larry Brindley said. He began acting up during detention.

"He has attention deficit disorder, and he was misbehaving," Larry Brindley said. "He had some kind of a sponge and was throwing it. He wasn't being mean. He was just being ornery."

The teacher, a 21-year veteran of the district, "just kind of snapped," Brindley said.

Superintendent Tom Anderson said the teacher, whose name was not released, directed two other students to help her tape Tommy to his desk.

The students and the teacher used duct tape to bind Tommy's hands and feet together and tape his body to the desk. The tape was also placed over his mouth, Anderson said.

Later that day, Tommy told Anderson of the incident. Anderson said he immediately confronted the teacher, though she was allowed to work for two more days before resigning the following week.

The teacher knew immediately she had crossed the line, but Anderson said that was no excuse.

"We've talked to teachers about how to handle disciplinary problems," Anderson said. "There's a policy that if kids misbehave in detention, they're sent home and the principal takes care of it the next day. She just got caught up in the situation."

Both Anderson and Larry Brindley said the outcome could have been much worse. Because of a problem at birth, Tommy's trachea is smaller than normal. With his mouth taped, he began to turn blue, Larry Brindley said.

Eventually, two other boys intervened and helped the child free himself.

Anderson said, "Whether he was actually in danger or not I don't know but it's a situation where it could have been dangerous."

Larry Brindley was upset that the teacher was not fired immediately. He also believes that a second teacher witnessed the incident but failed to step in.

The family is still considering filing criminal charges and pursuing a lawsuit, Larry Brindley said. Oran police did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Tommy missed just one day of school after the incident and has recovered physically, but is still reluctant to talk about what happened, his father said. The family plans to take him to a child psychologist to try to get him to open up.

[Charles Henrickson]

"Why a duck?"

[martin_fierro]

You beat me here before I could

you.