HALIFAX—Parents at a Halifax-area school are reeling with disbelief after learning that a staff member allegedly duct-taped several students’ mouths during an after-school program last week.

Jennifer Procunier said she didn’t believe her son when he first told her what had happened.

“He said she lined them up, put the fear of God in them, went and got the tape, came back, taped their mouths and made them stand there, and continued to threaten incident reports should they move or try and touch the tape.”

The boy, who is seven and in Grade 2, was participating in the Excel after-school program at Bedford South School last Thursday when the duct-taping allegedly occurred.

It wasn’t until Procunier spoke with another parent who said her own son and about 10 others were duct-taped that she began to think twice about her son’s story.

“And as I’m looking at him you could see the marks from the tape were blatant on his face,” Procunier said. “You could see the square.”

She has since spoken with three other parents, but she doesn’t know what prompted the incident.

“(My son) said it just seemed like it was all of a sudden, and we didn’t realize we weren’t supposed to be playing or whatever it was at that time. They seemed to be taken aback,” she said.

Education Minister Ramona Jennex said in a news release Tuesday she is “very upset” about the allegation and the department will work with the school board to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Police have confirmed they are investigating a report of an assault on Thursday afternoon involving a student and staff member at the school.

Doug Hadley, spokesman for the Halifax Regional School Board, said the board, which runs the Excel program, is also investigating. The school and Excel staff have received several complaints.

The employee in question, an assistant instructor in the program, has been placed on paid leave until the board concludes its investigation.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Hadley said such workers require a high school diploma and one year’s experience working with kids and they receive training in non-violent crisis intervention and discipline.

He said at least 11 kids were in the room at the time of the alleged duct-taping.

“I don’t think it was for too long, but regardless, if it did occur, it’s not an action that we would support for any length of time,” he said. “We want the students to know that they are safe and that school is a safe place.”

Read more about: