Teacher resigns after having boy taped to desk

ORAN, Mo. -- A Oran Elementary School teacher has resigned from her teaching position following accusations of taping a seventh-grader to his desk.

According to the student's father, Larry Brindley, the incident occurred to his 14-year-old son Tommy on Feb. 19 when Tommy was receiving detention for being late to school three times.

Brindley said when his son started to misbehave in detention, the teacher ordered two eighth- graders to bind Tommy's feet and hands together with duct tape, tape his body to the desk and cover his mouth with tape.

"He has attention deficit disorder, he misbehaves," Brindley said. "She just couldn't handle it and crossed the line."

Because his son has problems with his trachea, Brindley said he could not breathe and soon started to turn blue. Tommy was able to release himself from the tape within about 15 minutes, Brindley said.

At the time of the incident, Tommy's parents were on business in San Francisco, but upon their return they met with Oran school superintendent Tom Anderson. Brindley said that upon his first meeting with Anderson on Feb. 23 the teacher was still in school and was not suspended until he requested it. By his next meeting with the superintendent, Brindley was told that the teacher had resigned.

"I'm still not happy. This could have caused the death of my son and she is not suffering enough." Brindley said he and his wife are still debating whether to file a complaint with authorities.

Anderson could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.