Posted on 05/26/2005 8:11:47 PM PDT by Dan from Michigan
Substitute Teacher Fired for Taping Mouths
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - A substitute teacher who was fired after putting small pieces of tape across the mouths of first-graders because they would not stop talking said she did not mean any harm.
Vigo County schools officials fired Sheryl Smith this week after parents told them that she had taped six children's mouths at Fuqua Elementary School.
"A substitute teacher used extremely poor judgment," said John Orr, director of human resources.
Smith had put the tape on vertically, and it did not cover the children's mouths, although they could not talk. She did it because some of the children would not be quiet, Orr said.
"That's something we don't tolerate in the Vigo County School Corporation," Orr said. "She is terminated ... she will not work for the corporation anymore."
But Smith, who often substituted for the class, said she taped the students' mouths in a playful way.
"It was a little piece of Scotch tape," she said. "I was just joking with them. I think it's blown clear out of proportion."
Orr contacted Vigo County Child Protective Services about what happened but believes the agency would not pursue it because no children were injured.
None of the kids appeared upset in class, and the tape wasn't on very long, Smith said.
I am getting really sick of seeing all these news articles about teachers abusing our children!!
Doesn't she know to use duct tape (handy man's secret helper) for these larger drafts.
Oh the days when you could get a ruler smashed across the knuckles for yapping in class.....I guess the those days weren`t so bad afterall.
Now we have scotch tape over the lips ... the horror !!!!
In the classroom?
Where else?
Sarcasm, right?
Not at all...I would rather see the school administer corporal punishment...spankings with the board of education than for them to have teachers exerting their control issues on the children by taping their mouth.
Why? You would rather see them hit the kids then jokingly, as the teacher said, put tape on their mouths? I'm not following your logic for hitting kids for talking.
Wow.
If a teacher taped one of my kids mouth shut, without my consent, well, that teacher would be counting the teeth lost due to my response.
I'm not saying the kids should be hit for talking...I'm saying the school needs to do better on what type of discipline is allowed. Showing a tendency as a control freak by taping the kids' mouth is not acceptable.
Children need to be properly disciplined, not degraded.
And what would be proper dicipline in your opinion.
When I was in the first grade, a teacher made me stick a bar of soap in my mouth for cursing.
That didn't work out well, I ate part of the soap and she freaked out.
She never did use that punishment again as far as I know.
For talking when they are not suppose to be, tell the child to sit down and listen, or they would lose their recess.
I must be really tired, I can't figure out what you are trying to say here.
I think it more of a training issue with the teacher than the school endorses this type of discipline. The school fired the teacher so obviously the school doesn't allow taping kids mouths shut.
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