US school duct-tapes girl's ripped jeans, mother's outrage is viral on TikTok

The mother shared a photo of her daughter's duct-taped legs and jeans. (Image: TikTok/shanahdrummond2)

A US mother has gone on viral on TikTok after she recounted an incident from December where her daughter’s school put stuck duct tape on her ripped jeans for violating the dress code.

TikTok user @shanahdrummond2 in a clip said that she was very concerned about what the duct tape could do to her daughter’s sensitive skin and said that the school should have called her and asked to bring a change of clothes and not take matters in their own hands.

In the video, that has over 14 million views on TikTok, the mother filmed herself walking into her child’s school and asking an office administrator if it was “acceptable” and part of their “policy” to use duct tape on her daughter as a disciplinary action.

The mother claimed that the administrator had just asked her daughter if she had spare pants and when she said no, the ripped parts of her jeans were taped shut.

The mother also showed a picture of her daughter wearing the ripped jeans with red duct tape over her upper thighs.

She asked people in the video whether she was overreacting as her daughter suffers from eczema and has sensitive skin.

“Am I overreacting, or am I justified in being pissed off that the school thought it was acceptable to put duct tape on my child’s skin? I feel the school should’ve called me if they needed to change her pants,” she said in the clip.

The student had texted her mother from school after which she went to go get her.

Many users supported the mother in the matter saying that a school should not be using duct tape on a student’s skin citing allergies and other problems that may arise from its use.

Some however said that the student didn’t follow the dress code and whatever step the school took for breaking rules then cannot be challenged.

The woman, in a separate video, explained that this was not in the school’s rulebook the previous year and nowhere does it say that duct taping is an appropriate punishment for this.

The incident happened in Missouri and the woman said that this kind of moral policing and alleged exaggerated punishment is being administered in “many” schools across the United States.