Teacher Locks Student Inside Classroom As Punishment

A father has kept his son home from school ever since his son told him that he was locked inside of a classroom.

Sixth-grader Luke Eblin said that he was rushing to finish an assignment as class got let out and was not fast enough for his teacher’s liking.

According to Eblin, on Wednesday as class was letting out, his teacher ordered him out of the room when the bell rang.

“She has this little ring tone for her to go do bus duty, so it rang and she told everybody to get their stuff and everything. Well, I wanted to get my paper done, so I had to hurry up and get it done,” Eblin said. “She said, ‘I got three seconds to get out,’ so she counted kind of quickly and she closed the door. I didn’t know she locked it. I thought she was playing around.”

Eblin said that when he went to open the door, it was locked.

Todd Eblin, Luke’s father, said that he immediately called the school for an explanation when he heard about the incident from his son.

“She said that she was trying to hurry him along,” Todd Eblin said. “She kept saying she had this bus duty, and that he did not move fast enough.”

Luke Eblin said that he was locked in the classroom alone for 10 to 15 minutes.

“She said, ‘I was trying to teach him a valuable lesson that he needs to do what I tell him to do,’” Todd Eblin said that the teacher told him. “What would happen if there was a fire?”

Chillicothe City Schools Superintendent Jon Saxton said that while the incident was under investigation.

“It is certain that we do not want students locked in classrooms that they are not able to get out of – or any room for that matter – and that is not a common practice,” Saxton said. “It does not happen. It was an unfortunate situation that did occur, and we’re taking steps to ensure that it does not happen again.”

Saxton said that the district would be swapping out old locks that are not able to be unlocked from the inside.

Any disciplinary action would be decided after the internal investigation. According to the superintendent, the teacher was a veteran in the district with an excellent record.

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