A parent's job is to protect their children. Whether it's protecting them from harm, protecting their imagination, or protecting their individuality, there is a lot that goes into being a parent.
When you bring your child to school, it can be a little bit intimidating because you can't be there to watch over them. You don't know what happens, and you have to trust that your child will feel safe enough throughout their day.
Teachers are in place not only to educate children, but also to act as the surrogate protectors. But when Victoria Phillips' 10-year-old daughter came home in tears, she knew that her teacher had failed.
Phillips revealed that when her daughter Reagan came home from school she burst into tears. As any concerned parent would do, she asked what had happened.
"Reagan started to cry, and I am like, 'What's going on? Tell me what happened Reagan.' And she's like, 'Well she put tape on my mouth.' 'She put tape over your mouth?' And she said, 'Yeah.'" Phillips recalled. "'Everybody laughed at me.' And she said, 'I pulled it off' and she said, 'That's why my lip was bleeding.'"
The fifth grader was left feeling humiliated after her own teacher put a piece of tape on her mouth to stop her from talking.
Phillips describes her daughter has an enthusiastic student who regularly volunteers to answer questions in class, but has also gotten in trouble for talking during class. While she has been working with other teachers to find solutions to Reagan's excitement during class, she feels like the teacher went too far.
"I'm angry, I'm hurt, and I'm driven."
WBALTV11 spoke with a student from the same orchestra class, and they claimed it was "meant to be a joke," but Phillips doesn't think that it was funny.
"That messes with you psychologically for life," Phillips said before explaining what she wanted to happen to the teacher.
"I would like for her to make a public statement and a public apology to my daughter. She was humiliated."
The Department of Child Services is looking into the incident according to the school, and they will only take action if the investigation proves that the teachers "joke" was actually against code.
