A story coming out of Orlando, Florida today outlines with broad strokes how Middle School teacher, Kasey Goodin, was suspended for her recent creative use of duct tape in the classroom. Here is the actual lead for that story:
A middle school teacher accused of using duct tape to bind a student to his desk was suspended for more than a week without pay for the alleged incident.
Quick experiment: Do this right now. On a scale of 1-10, how outraged are you by that headline and lead?
1 = “I think this is funny.”
5 = “I couldn’t care less one way or the other.”
10= “The thought that a teacher would do this pisses me off big time.”
Just humor me and jot your answer down somewhere next to the letter “A”.
Great, now let’s move on by filling in some of the blanks with some text I selected from the story.
Goodin took that duct tape and taped the student’s leg to his desk before she used the masking tape to tape his hands and his face.
Goodin claims it was a joke.
The student involved has since been removed from Goodin’s classroom.
“It’s just not funny for a child to be taped, whether it’s in jest or it’s a disciplinary measure,” said school board chair Betty Burney.
Burney was the only board member who voted against Goodin’s 10-day suspension, saying she didn’t think the punishment was harsh enough.
Board members also voted that the teacher should get counseling.
Alright lets take a break for another quick poll. Using the same scale as above please rate your amount of outrage again. This time put your number score next to the letter “B”.
Okay. Now let’s fill in with a little more information and hear a bit from Goodin herself. Again, this was taken from the actual text of the story:
In Goodin’s written account of what happened in the classroom, the teacher said, “There was a light-hearted mood in the class as I walked to the supply closet and removed a roll of purple duct tape and a roll of masking tape … The class was laughing. I was laughing. The student was laughing.”
“The masking tape was applied to the student’s hands. The student immediately removed it, laughing throughout the incident. Within the next few minutes, the ‘play’ was over, the tape was removed,”
She ended her account stating, “This incident, was in reality, an opportunity to have fun with the students while getting a message to them. Looking back, I know that it was inappropriate for me to break the lines of formality.”
“The reason why we didn’t go for something as severe as dismissal, it did appear at least it started out as something more lighthearted,” said Duval County Superintendent Ed Pratt-Dannals.
Board members said the teaching position at Kirby is the teacher’s first job and she has shown good behavior in the past.
“I understand that it was a young teacher. I just felt that we needed to send a stronger message,” said Burney.
So now what do you think? Was this punishment justified? Was Goodin out of line? Should the board have sent a “stronger message”?
Now what’s your score? Call it “C.” Did anything change from A-C?
If you feel no empathy for Goodin at this point–you’re obviously not, nor have you ever been, a middle school teacher. And that’s fine.
I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall in that classroom. I have a feeling this got blown completely out of proportion. I may be wrong. Part of me almost hopes I am and that the incident was serious enough to warrant a 10-day suspension and national news coverage.
Because if it wasn’t–if it was all just a bit of fun–I’m pretty sure we just sucked all the spark and spontaneity from one more teacher’s classroom. And the sensationalist press is just as much to blame. One thing that I’ve learned as a blogger is that half the time, with a story like this, people never read past the headline. This doesn’t stop them from commenting and spreading toxic anger however.
A teacher duct taped a student to a desk! That’s obviously wrong! I’m mad! What’s more to know? (Insert your opinion on the state of education here)
Great. Just what we need–more “formality” in the learning environment.
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10 responses so far ↓
1 Doodaddy // Feb 13, 2008 at 10:07 pm
A. 10, B. 10, and C. 10. This person who lacks the judgment necessary to be a teacher.
I’m plenty fun as a teacher, too. When I was working as a naturalist, I did a teambuilding exercise that involved taping the entire class together in a line with masking tape, then having them do group tasks trying not to break it.
It was lots of fun. I was not a boring teacher.
Moving into the duct tape realm, well that’s just off.
2 Doodaddy // Feb 13, 2008 at 10:08 pm
And yep, about 40% of my students were in middle school. Granted, I was teaching in an informal environment, but still.
3 Mrs. Chili // Feb 14, 2008 at 8:16 am
I still don’t have enough information to make a judgment here. I think you’re right, Chris; we needed to be there to be able to judge fairly.
I would love to see more informality in the classroom. I feel that we’ve gotten so afraid of each other that there’s very little human connection between teacher and student anymore, and that makes me sad (and limits my ability to teach in a way that suits my humanity, frankly).
4 Jake Wisse // Feb 14, 2008 at 9:42 am
I think this “incident” was not an incident, but I wasn’t there. Probably the student’s parents were outraged and the student allowed them to ignore the teacher’s side of the story. Then the school board (comprised partially of normal parents and partially of complete idiots), in a politically charged atmosphere of ass-covering, face-saving, and media grandstanding, decides to “make an example.” But I’d be willing to bet the student probably wouldn’t shut his damn cakehole. And rather than just yelling at him or her, the teacher was having a little fun while getting her point across. But since we’ve tied our teachers’ hands behind their backs and allowed our children to run amok, this sort of story is getting more and more common.
5 Roger // Feb 14, 2008 at 11:17 am
Ah, how things have changed. I remember back in the day (15 years ago) my 5th grade teacher taping a kid into his chair. The kids name was David, and for months Mr K had been trying to get David to sit in his chair. David continued to semi-stand (one shin resting on the chair, the other leg mostly standing). One day Mr K. threated to duct tape David down. David sat for about 10 minutes, then resumed his pose of choice. Mr. K got out the tape, David sat down, again for 10-15 minutes, ten got up again. Mr K then taped David down. It was hilarious. Nobody got their nose bent out of shape, nobody threatened lawsuits of transfered classrooms. Unfortunately, the world is a different place. We have a well developed sense of entitlement and an underdeveloped sense of responsibility. We ask teachers and educators to be creative and be inspirational like Robin Williams in “Dead Poets Society”, yet when the smallest thing goes wrong, the otherwise good teacher is villainized. There are boundaries of acceptable behavior and too often educators cross that boundary. But we need to let the ‘truth’ come out and avoid these snap judgments - and limit financial awards from lawsuits against school districts and teachers. It was suggested to me when I was a student teacher to take out liability insurance against the day when a student will sue me. At the time, I thought it was just a bitter, old teacher complaining in the teacher’s lounge. Since I got my license 5 years ago, 4 of the 20 people in my class have been sued. All but one were dismissed as nuisance suits but all 4 have left the profession. We want a great educational system but aren’t willing to commit to one.
6 Doodaddy // Feb 14, 2008 at 10:44 pm
OK, let me take another tack: what did the teacher think this stunt was actually teaching? Being taped down is going to keep this kid from acting out? Really? Did Mr. K’s David learn from this? I can’t imagine that he did.
If you reward the kid who’s acting out with public attention and notoriety, he’s just going to act out more.
7 Christopher Wondra // Feb 15, 2008 at 12:08 am
I like this discussion so much that I’m going to stay out of it for a bit in hopes that it will get really interesting.
Thanks for everyone that’s commented so far.
Doodaddy: It sounds like you’re saying that never, under any circumstance, would it be appropriate to use tape in this way.
Roger: It sounds to me like you’re saying, “Why can’t we all just lighten up a bit–like in the good-old-days.”
Jake and Mrs. Chili: It sounds like, for the most part, you’d just as soon stay out of it since you didn’t actually see how it all went down–with your own eyes.
So now all we’re missing is representation from the segment of population who thinks we should bind students more often. Just for fun, maybe I’ll play that guy.
No, wait. I’m a public school teacher. That might look bad.
8 drb // Mar 19, 2008 at 11:13 am
I’ m a little late to the discussion here however, I have know this teacher since she was 7 years old. We were neighbors. She moved away about 6 years ago. She is a wonderful person and doesn’t have a malicious bone in her body. My guess is she is well liked and respected by most of her students.
When will common sense prevail in this country?
It was a teaching moment that was addressed in jest. You can either get frustrated and take a negative appoach to a students bad behavior, or add a little humor to the lesson. I’m not saying it was her only option, I’m just saying crucifying her character because little Johnny became embarrassed by all the attention is ridiculous. I’m sick of parents who think little Johnny or Susie can do no wrong and should never be called out for their behavior.
9 Sam S. // Apr 5, 2008 at 8:30 pm
A. 1
B. 1
C. 1
I don’t think the teacher should duct tape people to desks, even if it is light-hearted, but, I hardly doubt it deserves them a suspension.
10 The Main Erik // May 6, 2008 at 10:10 am
I tkink this is really funny and I think people need to calm down about all of this harasment stuff. I think people need thicker skin and they need to find things fuuny instead of bad.
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