There’s bound to be more to this story: “Teacher Accused of Taping Kids’ Mouths: Students Say Teacher Taped Their Mouths Shut.” Roz Plater of My Fox DC posted a story under this headline about a counsellor who encountered a third-grader with tape over his mouth. When the principal investigated, he allegedly found seven students with tape over their mouths.
Ms. Plater has video of John White, spokesman for Prince George’s County Schools, saying “Teachers are trained on classroom management and there are better ways to handle these situations, and our teachers are held to higher standards.” Well, putting tape over students’ mouths is a classroom management strategy, but it’s just flat unnecessary, let alone wrong. I don’t know what was happening in that classroom, but I do know that there are humane and effective methods for managing classroom behavior, and this isn’t one of them.
Can anyone think of a legitimate reason for putting tape over students’ mouths?
Link to Ms. Plater’s story. Matthew Stable of NBC Washington also covered the story. NBC Washington and First Coast News reported on an earlier incident in which a teachers’ aide was accused of putting tape on students’ mouths in a school cafeteria.
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I was horrified to hear this story, but not surprised. A few years ago my roommate was doing Teach for America in DC (not far from the PG schools). I heard stories like this all the time from the TFA teachers. Since they had such limited training in behavior modification or in any classroom management techniques they would resort to tying children to chairs or putting them in closets. The problem was that because the teachers were from TFA the principals didn’t step in even when parents complained. They didn’t want to lose their connection with TFA and didn’t want to upset anyone.