Family Of 8-Year-Old Whose Mouth Was Duct Taped By Antioch Teacher Files Claim
ANTIOCH (CBS/AP) - The family of an 8-year-old Antioch boy has filed a legal claim against a charter school accusing a teacher there of duct-taping his mouth in class.
Luvy Torres, the boy's mother, said Antioch Charter Academy II third-grade teacher Michelle Mankewich placed strips of duct tape over her son's mouth in November as a disciplinary measure.
The claim also alleges another teacher, Marianne Dubitsky, of punishing him by placing a chair over him and sitting on it.
The child involved was diagnosed with a learning disability related to auditory processing and attended special education classes at the school.
The claim, filed on Tuesday, seeks more than $10,000 in damages. A call to the school on Wednesday was not immediately returned.
The Contra Costa Times reported that a January letter sent to the Torres family by the school's principal, who is also the mother of Marianne Dubitsky, said an investigation cleared Mankewich of any wrongdoing. The claim against Dubitsky was not referenced in the letter, according to the Times.
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