Utah Teacher Accused Of Duct Taping Students’ Mouths As Punishment For Talking In Class

A Utah teacher at Wasatch Junior High School in Salt Lake City is under investigation after being accused of duct taping students’ mouths as punishment if they talked during class, according to FOX 13 Now.

On Monday, a computer science teacher became irate after one of her students began talking during class. She reportedly approached him and gave him a piece of duct tape to put over his mouth for 40 minutes as punishment.

The seventh-grader did as he was told because he said his mother told him to “respect teachers and adults,” and he was also afraid that she would do something worse if he didn’t listen. Afterwards he snapped a picture of himself with the duct tape over his mouth and sent it to his mother Tara Dimoh, who was devastated.

She said, “For a teacher to humiliate him in front of the classroom made me very concerned for my son’s safety.”

Ben Horsley, who is with the Granite School District, stated that he was shocked after learning that the teacher is being accused of duct taping the student’s mouths as punishment because “this is a teacher with 29 years of experience.”

However, what was more shocking was when Horsley investigated the incident and learned that the 12-year-old boy was not the only one forced to put duct tape over his mouth as punishment. Horsley went on to say that “there were a handful of potential students that were involved.”

Dimoh said that after her son was humiliated in front of the class by wearing duct tape over his mouth, she said she has seen a change in him. She said, “He came home and just wanted to lay on the couch and pretty much moped the rest of the night, and the next morning he didn’t want to go to school.”

“I don’t want this to happen to any other kid. I wish she would have called me or emailed me if my son was a consistent problem.”

She added, “I don’t think that this makes her a bad person or teacher. I just think this particular thing is a problem for me.”

Another parent Tristan Webb, whose son is in the same class and received the same punishment for talking in class, stated that “This was a black and white issue that didn’t need any second guessing it was obviously over the line.”

According to NBC 4i, Horsley stated that they are aware that the teacher duct taped the student’s mouths as punishment and they do not condone to teacher’s actions. Horsley went on to say that “it was a very inappropriate classroom management technique and certainly we shouldn’t be having kids put duct tape on their mouths. That’s just not appropriate.”

Although the Granite School District stated that they do not condone the teacher’s actions, parents were perplexed as to why she was back in the classroom the following day.

Webb added that she “felt that there should have been a quicker response to protect the children.”

“But asking a student to place duct tape on their mouth would never be an appropriate response.” — Ben Horsley #uted https://t.co/dhykJ054kz

— Deseret News (@DeseretNews) May 25, 2016

However, the district stated that, before they place the teacher on administrative leave, they have to conduct an investigation to be sure of the teacher’s intentions. Horsley stated that “It’s hard to determine whether she was kidding, teasing in an inappropriate way, or if she was serious, there are three days left in the school year, I can’t speculate on her motives.”

“I don’t think this behavior is indicative of bad kids. I think kids are kids, and teachers recognize that, by and large. Kids get excited to know that summer’s coming. But asking a student to place duct tape on their mouth would never be an appropriate response.”

Reporters reached out to the Utah teacher accused of duct taping a student’s mouth as punishment, but she declined to do an interview.

[Image via Getty Images / Matt Cardy]