From the Daily Herald of Arlington Heights, Illinois, and the Northwest Herald, of Crystal Lake, Illinois:

A substitute teacher in suburban Chicago has been found guilty of two felony charges after taping a special education student’s arms and legs together, taping him to his seat and taping his mouth shut during class to make the child behave.

Matthew Konetski was found guilty of aggravated battery and unlawful restraint. He faces a maximum of five years in prison.

A first-year substitute with no training in special education, Konetski had argued through his attorney that he was acting within his legal authority when he put masking tape on the student. He said he was trying to send a message to the student “in a fun way.”

Defense attorneys also argued that district officials used poor judgment when they placed a substitute with no training in a special-education classroom.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 9th, 2008 at 2:17 pm and is filed under criminal justice, special education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post