The Associated Press, December 23, 1998

Teacher Suspended, Reprimanded, Reassigned for Washing out Student's Mouth with Soap

(Decatur, Georgia-AP)-- DeKalb County, Georgia, has suspended a teacher who washed out a boy's mouth with soap.

The boy is five years old. He swore at the teacher in a special education class earlier this month.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says the teacher told an investigator she had used the soap punishment on her own children -- and that her parents had done the same to her when she was a child.

She's been teaching for 20 years. Now, she's being reassigned to a different school.