LWHS Teacher Put on Leave After Allegedly Duct-Taping Student to Chair

A teacher at Lake Washington High School has been put on paid administrative leave after allegedly duct-taping a student to a chair in the classroom.

The incident, first reported by KIRO Thursday night, took place Wednesday and was discovered by LWHS administrators when another teacher overheard the student talking about what happened later that day.

In a statement emailed to Kirkland Patch, Lake Washington School District spokeswoman Kathryn Reith said a "complete investigation immediately began" and that Kirkland Police were notified, as well as the student's parents.

Another LWHS student told KIRO the incident began when the teacher became frustrated with the student during biology class. She began duct-taping him to a chair, according to the report, and other students joined in. 

"She didn't really stop them until he had been taped around multiple times," sophomore Roland Munsil told the TV station. Eventually, the student removed the duct tape and left the classroom.

Kirkland Police Lt. Mike Murray said the incident is still being investigated by police but no charges have been filed at this point.

Reith declined to discuss specific details about what happened, citing an ongoing district investigation that may involve discipline toward both the instructor and students. Here is the entirety of her statement:

The district is aware of an incident that took place at Lake Washington High School Wednesday. The school administration learned of it later in the day from a teacher who overheard the student at the center of the incident. A complete investigation immediately began, which is continuing. The parents of the student were informed as were the Kirkland police. The teacher involved has been put on paid administrative leave.

Physically constraining students is completely unacceptable. I believe it would be a violation of our Human Dignity Policy. It may fall into the state’s code of professional conduct  for teachers under disregard of generally recognized professional standards. We do have a detailed policy regarding harassment, intimidation and bullying, which you can see here see here: we expect all staff members and students to abide by it.

Should the investigation into this situation find violations of these policies occurred, appropriate discipline will be taken. Serious infractions by staff can result in discipline up to and including termination. Any disciplinary actions will depend on the outcome of the investigation.