Utah teacher under investigation for making students duct tape their mouths

The school, in Salt Lake City, said the teacher has 29 years of experience but had been placed on "administrative leave" following the incident

(Getty Images)

A teacher in Utah is under investigation for allegedly telling students to duct tape their mouths shut.

School officials in Salt Lake City were alerted of the incident after one parent received a selfie from their 12-year-old son, who said his teacher told him tape his mouth for talking too much.

According to local news broadcasters, the student’s mother said she was “blown away” by what happened, and that the school’s punishment system had gone “way too far”.

A school district spokesman told KSL news station: “I don't think this behaviour is indicative of bad kids. I think kids are kids, and teachers recognise that, by and large. But asking a student to place duct tape on their mouth would never be an appropriate response.”

The district said the teacher has 29 years of experience, but is now on administrative leave pending an investigation.

It is believed that “potentially a handful of students” were involved.

The mother of the child who sent the selfie said that she didn't plan to share the incident with the media, but an anonymous person shared the photo of her son to media outlets. She said she would forgive the teacher and does not want the teacher to be fired.

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

“I don’t want this to happen to any other kids. I just wish the teacher would have called me to tell me if this was a persistent problem. 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.”