Jan 17, 2008 9:38 pm US/Eastern
Teacher Accused Of Duct Taping Girl's Mouth Shut
BROOKLINE, Mass. (WBZ) ―
A former science teacher in Brookline is accused of duct taping a 12-year-old student's mouth shut.
Brookline superintendent Bill Lupini said the teacher is no longer employed with the district and his last day of teaching was Wednesday.
Former Michael Driscoll School teacher Christopher Huggins was placed on leave after the girl's outraged parents notified the school's principal, Lupini said.
Parents said they know little of what happened in the classroom, and Lupini would only say it was an incident that took place in a classroom in front of other students.
What led to the taping is unclear.
Lupini calls it a case of poor judgement.
"I do believe the teacher understood he made a giant mistake," he said.
The Department of Social Services looked into the case and called the taping only inappropriate. A spokesperson said the department didn't take action because "our threshold for abuse is serious physical abuse. The child was uninjured."
But school officials said there's deeper hurt, and they said they believe Huggins knows it.
Taping a student is illegal in 27 states, including Massachusetts. All New England states are included in that number.
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