Teacher on leave after telling students to put duct tape on their mouths

Teacher on leave after telling students to put duct tape on their mouths

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EAST MILLCREEK — A teacher at Wasatch Junior High School was put on administrative leave Tuesday after she reportedly told several seventh-graders to put duct tape on their mouths for talking in class.

School leaders learned of the incident Monday when a parent of one of the students called the school, saying her son had sent her a picture of himself in class with duct tape over his mouth.

"If she had issued a punishment, I would have supported her. I think kids should have consequences," said Tara Dimoh, the student's mom. "But I don't support duct tape on my kid's mouth."

Granite School District officials are investigating exactly what happened before disciplinary actions against the teacher are decided. Administrators said the teacher did not put the tape on the students, but asked "a small handful" of them to do it themselves, according to district spokesman Ben Horsley.

The teacher has been with the district for 29 years, he said.

"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," Horsley said. "But asking a student to place duct tape on their mouth would never be an appropriate response."

Dimoh said she didn't intend to publicly address the incident until the photo of her son was anonymously sent to media outlets. But she sees what happened in her son's computer class as "forgivable" and an opportunity to learn.

"I don't think that this makes her a bad person or teacher," she said. "I just think this particular thing is a problem for me."

As a parent, Dimoh said she supports teachers as they take initial steps to correct misbehavior in the classroom, such as verbal warnings, docking points on an assignment, taking phones away or sending students to the principal's office.

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But proactive communication between parents, teachers and school leaders is often the best solution to recurring misbehavior, she said.

"I think it's important for parents to go to parent-teacher conferences," she said. "It's our responsibility to teach (children) at home how to behave with adults, how to behave socially, what responsibility is, taking responsibility for your actions."

Horsley said the district offers ongoing professional training for teachers on many subjects, including classroom management. School administrators also provide help when initial disciplinary recourses don't lead to improvement, he said.

"We fully recognize and want to support our teachers who are having classroom management issues," he said.

That training is becoming even more critical for teachers, Horsley said, because Utah's student population continues to grow and student needs are more diverse than before. Educators are dealing with a mix of new and ongoing factors such as technology, language barriers, poverty and larger student numbers that all affect student behavior in the classroom.

They're not issues unique to the Granite School District, and there's rarely a one-size-fits-all solution, according to Horsley. But finding what's appropriate for each student takes a collaborative effort.

"Kids act differently now than they did 10 years ago, five years ago. The way that they act out is different, and we need to provide ongoing support for our teachers," he said. "The reality is that we have a diverse array of students, a diverse array of backgrounds and a diverse array of family support."

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Morgan Jacobsen

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