Ohio Teacher Resigns for Taping Students’ Mouths Shut

Ohio Teacher Resigns for Taping Students’ Mouths Shut
A teacher walks through a classroom during a high school exam in Strasbourg, France on June 18, 2018. (Frederick Florin/AFP/Getty Images)
The Associated Press
3/16/2019
Updated:
3/16/2019

CINCINNATI—A Cincinnati Public Schools teacher who acknowledged putting duct tape over students’ mouths to discipline them has resigned.

District spokeswoman Lauren Worley says Charles Igwekala-Nweke resigned in January.

Igwekala-Nweke taught math at Clark Montessori High School and Hughes STEM High School and had worked for the district since 2015.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reported Friday that school records show a student told another teacher Igwekala-Nweke put tape over his mouth in December.

Igwekala-Nweke wrote in an email to Hughes Principal Kathy Wright that he taped students’ mouths shut instead of reprimanding them for talking during an exam.

At least three students told officials their mouths were taped shut.

Igwekala-Nweke later apologized, saying he allowed “gross rationale to justify gross behavior.”