“I told them that they could not disrespect the teacher and cause her emotional grief, nor would I allow them to rob their classmates of an effective learning environment,” the headmaster said. Raymond shared how much he cared for the students telling them, “I love you, but this has been going on all year and it has to stop immediately.”
Raymond then pulled out a roll of clear Scotch packing tape and said, “I’m going to give you a choice. We can either go downstairs and call your parents and you can wait in the lobby to be suspended, or you can get tape on your mouth and learn how to be quiet during class.”
All three students chose the tape over suspension. Raymond said he “pulled off one piece at a time and carefully placed it over their mouths making sure that it did not touch their nose or interfere with their breathing. The headmaster made sure that the tape wasn’t wrapped around any other their heads.
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“Are any of you in pain or hurting in any way,” Raymond asked the students after he placed the tape over their mouths. The students all shook their heads.
“Can you all breathe normally,” Raymond then asked, to which they all nodded their heads “yes.” The students could have removed the tape at any time if they had chosen to, Raymond shared.
Escorting them back into their classroom, Raymond told the class, “Disrupting your class and disrespecting your teacher is not allowed. I’m not going to call your parents, but you can tell your parents and if they have any questions, they can call me.”
The headmaster immediately disclosed what had happened to the school’s principal. After explaining to Raymond that she wasn’t comfortable with his disciplinary actions, the principal decided to decrease the time the students had tape over their mouths from 10 minutes to two minutes.
Raymond and the principal walked to the classroom, removed the students, and took the tape off their mouths.
“None of the students were harmed in any way from the tape being put on or taken off,” Raymond said. “Never did any student indicate they had experienced any discomfort. In fact, one teacher witnessed the student that caused the most trouble actually laughing in the hall while still wearing the tape.”
The students’ mouths were taped for approximately eight to 10 minutes. When the tape was removed, the headmaster asked each of the three students, “Do you understand that you cannot disrupt the class?” Each student responded, “Yes sir,” then returned to class.
Raymond explained in his statement that the school has a “zero-tolerance bully policy” in which a student cannot bully another student or teachers. “We are serious about protecting both our students and our teachers,” he said.
Three parents of the disruptive group of the five students have pressed charges for cruelty to juveniles. The pastor reached out to Police Chief Randy Fandal wanting to give a statement to a detective but shared that he wasn’t contacted until after the arrest warrant was issued.
Expressing that the school’s administration loves their students, Raymond concluded by saying the students “were never in any physical pain. Their breathing was never impaired. The tape was never wrapped around their heads, and it was off in under ten minutes. No student was ever treated with cruelty or harmed in any way.”
ChurchLeaders reached out to Lakeside Christian School and asked if the school planning on taking any disciplinary action towards Raymond. The school responded saying, “No,” and explained that “the actions of the headmaster were consistent with his role as the disciplinarian and were done in the best interest of everyone involved.”
Raymond’s arraignment is scheduled for June 22. Read the headmasters full statement here.
