NC teacher resigns after 11-yr-old student sends his mom a pic claiming she DUCT-TAPED his mouth shut
JOHNSTON COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA: A mother was left shocked as her 11-year-old son shared a picture of him from school being duct-taped and saying, “I don’t know what to do.” Horrified by the visual taken on February 14, the mother, Catherine Webster, took the matter to social media to bring attention to her son Brady Webster’s story and his interaction with his Smithfield Middle School's English teacher, Dawn Felix, who "may be walking a fine line between discipline and assault," the mother wrote.
In the Facebook post on March 22, the mother admitted that her 11-year-old son can be talkative, a chatterbox, and a class clown, as she wrote about the physical assault, "I’ve been made aware since early fall by his other teachers that Brady is quite the chatterbox this year. According to his other teachers, he gets along well with and enjoys entertaining his classmates. And has a tendency to clown around and be disruptive and talk too much. I’m a reasonable person and a fairly strict parent with no tolerance for disrespect and an understanding that teachers do not have time for repetitive disruption, so I also discipline Brady at home when this happens."
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'She resorted to taping Brady’s mouth shut'
She further said, "Those teachers have had to redirect or correct this behavior and they have always emailed or called me to make me aware. They give him silent lunch or move him away from his buddies or in some cases, more serious but acceptable forms of punishment. They have never laid a hand on Brady. But Mrs Felix? She resorted to taping Brady’s mouth shut, on more than one occasion. She has been doing it for a couple months to numerous children, and according to my child, a detective with Johnston County Sheriffs department, and other classmates, she also sometimes taped their wrists together. This was an ongoing thing in her classroom, and always without a call to parents about their children’s behavior, at least mine and one other parent I know, and potentially a third." And added, "But when it happened on February 14th, and Brady happened to have his phone at school with him, I received the text I screenshot below."
In the screenshot, the mother asked, "What is that? Who did that?" The child didn’t respond. However, the mother immediately called the school and later, reported the teacher to HR.
Who is Dawn Felix?
The teacher was just hired on August 17, 2022, and is said to be an international teacher, according to DailyMail. The mother mentioned in the post that her son's teacher had told detectives investigating the incident that it was "funny' and that the "children laughed when it happened." She added, "The teacher, whose contract was damaged from this incident, will be returning to her country since she can no longer teach here. I do not know what kind of disciplinary action it takes to disqualify them from remaining in these contracts, but I do regret that she will not be made an example of." She said the sixth grade ELA teacher, who was "recruited from a pool of international teacher candidates to fill gaps" will "soon be leaving the country."
However, she continued to state, "I would still like to know what, exactly, The Department of Public Instruction would do in a slightly different situation. That remains unanswered for me. I think we all know it is far too easy for teachers to mistreat, even abuse students in a classroom, be dismissed from their district (or in this case, resign once placed on leave and reported) only to get a job teaching in the next county or state." She asked, "So at what point are behaviors like this investigated and punished to a point that a teacher cannot repeat the pattern on other children elsewhere?"
Johnston County Public Schools confirms teacher's resignation
Johnston County Public Schools said the teacher resigned on February 17, 2023, and provided a statement saying, as per WRAL News, “Johnston County Public Schools takes any allegations of staff misconduct seriously. Although we cannot discuss the specifics of an investigation into alleged staff misconduct, we can confirm that whenever such allegations arise, our administration responds swiftly, by investigating the allegations and, sometimes, by removing staff from classrooms pending completion of a thorough review." The statement further read, "School administrators are always able and willing to speak with any and all parents who may have concerns regarding any issue that occurs.”