Teacher fired after allegedly duct-taping students’ mouths

A first grade teacher from Northern Texas is no longer employed by the Wichita Falls Independent School District after she allegedly put duct tape on her students' mouths all day.

According to NBC Dallas-Fort Worth, school counselors gave all 22 students in the teacher's class a questionnaire with a series of 10 questions. After reviewing the students' responses, it was found that the children were told "it was a game and that the duct tape was put on so they would be good."

Tamilyn Love, a parent of one of the students, told NBC, "According to our children, they've told us that she said it was for fun and that they shouldn't tell their mom and dad because she didn't want to get fired."  

The parent added that the children removed the duct tape from their mouths when they left the classroom. However, the tape was put back on when they returned.  The school district has provided extra counseling for the students while the incident is being investigated.

"We decided to put her into counseling. Saturday night she woke up and told me that she had a bad dream, that she was choking and couldn't breathe because she had duct tape over her mouth," Love said.

In response to parents filing police reports, juvenile detectives and Child Protective Services are investigating to determine whether any criminal charges may be warranted. 

Contact Caitlin Lilly at clilly@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @caitiesmith