Sep 21

I Wouldn’t Put Duct Tape There, If I Were You…

From the Huffington Post:

Duct Tape Used By Teacher To Silence 4th Grader

I grew up in the South where duct tape is seen as a viable solution to most every problem imaginable. However, I’m fairly certain it’s not an appropriate method for dealing with an unruly student. Apparently a substitute teacher in Lafayette, LA did not get that memo and put duct tape over a child’s mouth in an effort to keep him quiet.

I’m not discounting the issue that many teachers are facing classrooms with a significant number of disruptive children. However, the solution to that problem can not be the use of random discipline techniques created on-the-fly by an angry staff member. Each school district should have a discipline matrix that identifies disruptive behavior and how it will be punished.