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Video Appears to Show Middle School Teacher Spraying Students

A Massachusetts middle school teacher is accused of using air horns and spraying students with aerosols to silence classrooms. 

Emma Linscott, a seventh grader at Randolph Community Middle School, recorded cell phone video of the teacher spraying students sitting on a bleacher with what appears to be a can of aerosol.

"I remember my mom not thinking it was something that was really happening, so I said, 'I'm going to record it so that something can actually be done about it," Linscott said.

The teen's mother Beth Miller said she was shocked when she saw the video.

"You're dealing with kids," Miller said. "There's chemicals in there. That's not how you ask a kid to be quiet."

Linscott says the teacher used to use an air horn to quiet students and then began using cans of air fresheners or disinfectants.

Miller posted the video on Facebook, surprising many parents who said they were concerned that their children never told them this was happening in the school. Heather Pascarelli, the mother of another seventh grader at the school, said she was alarmed by the fact that the video shows other teachers standing by and not intervening.  

"There was another adult in the background who didn't say, 'Hey, wait a minute, stop. What are you doing? You're spraying the children with whatever it is in that can,'" Pascarelli said.

But not all parents are outraged. Some have come forward to defend the teacher. Kimberly Butler says her seventh grade son has excelled in the teacher's class.

"As far as teachers go, she is outstanding," Butler said. "I just pray she's here when we get back from April vacation."

In a statement, the superintendent of schools said he had just recently seen the video and that the district is investigating the incident "to get a full understanding of the situation."

"My primary concern is for the safety and well-being of all of students," Randolph Public Schools Superintendent Thomas Anderson said in a statement. "Any action that jeopardizes student safety will not be tolerated. This matter is being taken very seriously and an investigation is underway to get a full understanding of the situation."

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