An 11-year-old North Carolina student, who had his mouth taped “on more than one occasion” by his sixth-grade English teacher after talking too much in class, revealed the disturbing punishment to his mother in an exchange. of text messages.
Catherine Webster received a text message from her son Brady in February that read “I don’t know what to do” with a picture of himself with layers of blue duct tape taped to his mouth during a class at Smithfield High School in Smithfield County. Johnston.
Appalled by the image of her son, whom she described as ‘chatty’ who has a ‘tendency for slapstick’, Catherine posted the shocking image on Facebook to bring to light the story of her son and his interaction with Dawn Felix, who are you referring to. as ‘Mrs. Felix’ in the post.
DailyMail.com can only imagine Dawn Felix, who joined Johnston County School in August last year after Catherine confirmed her identity.
Brady Webster, an eleven-year-old North Carolina student who had his mouth taped “on more than one occasion” by his sixth-grade teacher after talking too much in class, revealed the disturbing punishment to his mother in an exchange. of text messages.
DailyMail.com can exclusively view Dawn Felix (pictured), who joined the Johnston County School in August last year.
Catherine said she hoped her post would “serve as an example to any other teacher or caregiver who may be walking the fine line between discipline and assault.”
“In this case, the chargeable criminal offense known as ‘assault on a child under the age of 12,'” Catherine wrote in the post.
She said she had “never met, seen or received an email” from Felix, who allegedly used this bizarre punishment “on at least three students.”
“But apparently I should have, multiple times, so I could work with her and correct my son Brady’s behavior in his class,” a concerned Catherine wrote.
“Her grades were good, so I had no reason to believe anything was wrong there because she never reached out to me.”
The mother-of-three said other teachers said Brady got along with others and “enjoys entertaining his classmates.”
“(He also) has a tendency to clown around and be disruptive and talk too much,” he said.
“I’m a reasonable person and a fairly strict parent who doesn’t tolerate disrespect and I understand that teachers don’t have time for repetitive interruptions, so I also discipline Brady at home when this happens.”
After receiving the text from her son who said he was “humiliated” by the experience, Catherine said she couldn’t contain her surprise and disappointment.
She said other teachers had communicated their concerns about Brady’s behavior and, with their help, found solutions to keep classroom disturbances to a minimum.
“Those teachers have had to redirect or correct this behavior and have always emailed or called me to let me know,” she said in the post.
“They give him a silent lunch or take him away from his friends or, in some cases, more serious but acceptable forms of punishment. They have never laid a hand on Brady.
But when she talked about her son’s English teacher, she said that instead of addressing her concerns with a parent, Felix had taken matters into her own hands.
“He’s been doing it for a couple of months with numerous kids, and according to my daughter, a detective with the Johnston County Sheriff’s Department, and other classmates, he would sometimes hit their wrists as well,” Catherine said.
Catherine Webster received a text message from her son Brady in February that read “I don’t know what to do” with a picture of himself with layers of blue duct tape taped to his mouth during a class at Smithfield High School in Smithfield County. Johnston.
Horrified by the image of her son, whom she described as a ‘chatty’ who has a ‘tendency for slapstick’, Catherine posted the shocking image on Facebook to bring her son’s story to light.
“This was an ongoing thing in her classroom, and always without calling parents out on their child’s behavior, at least mine and another parent I know, and potentially a third party.”
Catherine claimed in the Facebook post that her son’s teacher had told detectives investigating the incident that it was “funny” and that “the kids laughed when it happened.”
On February 14, Brady had his phone at school and sent Catherine a picture of himself revealing what was going on behind closed doors.
She stressed that sometimes her son laughs when he is uncomfortable.
“Maybe he laughed, standing in his classroom in front of 20-something classmates as she slapped strip after strip after strip (seems to be 10-12 strips, layer upon layer) of blue painter’s tape on over half her face,’ she said.
After seeing the picture, Catherine said she immediately called the school.
In a statement to WRAL The school’s administration said: “We can confirm that whenever such allegations arise, our administration responds quickly, investigating the allegations and sometimes removing staff from classrooms until a thorough review is complete.”
The sheriff’s office also investigated after saying several complaints from other parents were also made.
After consulting with the district attorney, the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office decided there was not enough to warrant an assault charge.
Johnston County Schools told the outlet that Felix, who had just been hired in August 2022, resigned on February 17, just days after the photo was texted to Catherine.
“The teacher, whose contract was affected by this incident, will be returning to her country as she can no longer teach here,” Catherine said in her post.
“I don’t know what kind of disciplinary action is needed to disqualify them from staying on these contracts, but I’m sorry she’s not an example.”
Catherine claims that the sixth grade ELA teacher, who was ‘recruited from a pool of international teacher candidates to fill in the gaps’, will ‘soon be leaving the country’.
“If (she) had been a local resident, or at least a US citizen, she would be facing a criminal charge right now,” Catherine said.
Catherine added that she still had questions about what the Department of Public Instruction would have done if the teacher had not been stripped of her teaching visa.
‘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,” she said.
“I think we all know that it’s all too easy for teachers to mistreat, even abuse, students in a classroom, to get fired from their district (or in this case, resign once they’ve been licensed and given reported) just to get a job teaching in the next county or state.
‘So at what point are behaviors like this investigated and punished to the point that a teacher can’t repeat the pattern in other children elsewhere?’
Johnston County Schools said the teacher, who was just hired in August 2022, resigned on February 17, just days after the photo was texted.
The disappointed mother-of-three said her view of the teachers had not been tarnished and that Felix’s behavior is “unusual”.
‘I love and passionately support our teachers. I try to partner with my kids’ teachers, although it’s harder as they get older because teachers have more students and less time for each family,” she said.
‘This post is not a knock on teachers in general, just one teacher. In every profession, you will always find some bad apples. But they don’t spoil the whole group.
DailyMail.com has contacted the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office, Smithfield High School, the Department of Public Instruction and Catherine Webster for comment.