CAT Tracks for March 4, 2004

CAT Tracks for March 4, 2004

ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF DISCIPLINE

Have you stopped duct-taping your students? (Be careful how you answer that!)

The CAT would strongly advise that you NOT use this form of discipline on students - no matter how "ornery" they become...

Teacher resigns after duct-taping student

Wednesday, March 3, 2004 Posted: 6:12 PM EST

ORAN, Missouri (AP) -- A teacher resigned last month after duct-taping a misbehaving seventh-grader to his desk and covering his mouth with tape, the school 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 February 19 at the elementary-middle school in Oran, a town of about 1,000 residents 120 miles south of St. Louis.

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

"He has attention deficit disorder, and he was misbehaving," 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 family is still considering pursuing criminal charges and a lawsuit, Brindley said. Police did not immediately return a call.