TOWNSEND, Mass. -- A local teacher was fired after she was accused of some troubling discipline. 

A first grade teacher at Spaulding Elementary School used duct tape on several students' mouths.

A parent said that her 7-year-old son Riley was one of 20 students in his class that had his mouth duct taped shut by the 23-year-old teacher, Emily Metcalfe.

"I would think of something out of a weird horror movie, in all honesty, a bunch of 7-year-olds sitting in their desks with their mouths taped shut. Picture it in your head. I'm sure it would make you nauseous too," said Alaina, a parent.

However, Mecalfe said that she passed out duct tape to the students because it was tied to a book that they read earlier in the year.

"It was not a punishment whatsoever," said fired teacher Emily Metcalfe.

After some students told their parents, she was called into the principal's office and was fired.

"I never once thought of anything malicious," said Metcalfe.

The superintendent went on to say that the teacher may have thought at first this was a joke, but that there was a lack of professional judgment

Another parent thinks that the incident is being blown out of proportion.

"At first I was upset at what she did and then as I had more time to think about it, I'm not angry at the teacher herself, I'm more angry at the school system," said parent Laurie Walker.

Metcalfe said that she can only hope that once she clears up some of the confusion, maybe she will get her job back.

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