DPS to fire secretary after arrest for allegedly duct taping 1st grader

DENVER - Hours after she was arrested on Monday over allegations she put duct tape over a 6-year-old's mouth and taped his wrists together, Denver Public Schools announced it was going to terminate a secretary at a local elementary school.

The arrest stems from allegations made by Ashlye Tenner, who says Carter duct taped her son, Joshua Fredericks, who is in first grade at Palmer Elementary School.

Tenner says the incident occurred last Wednesday. She says her son had been sent to the principal's office because he had been acting up in class.

It appears Joshua continued his antics in the main office in front of Carter.

Tenner says Carter then took discipline too far, placing duct tape over Joshua's mouth and taping his wrists together.

"I can't even start to imagine what would make someone do something like this. Joshua is my son and I would never tape him up for any reason, so for a school secretary to tape up a student, it's beyond me," Tenner told 9NEWS on Monday.

The school principal, Liz Trujillo, sent a letter home to parents Thursday telling them "allegations of misconduct" have been made.

To Tenner, this misconduct is really child abuse.

"Hopefully she won't be working around kids anymore. I do not believe she should be working around children, and hopefully with these charges, it will prevent her from being around someone else's child to do something like this in the future," she said. "I am glad that the police department is taking it as serious as I took it when it all happened, and I think this sends a clear message to her, and to most of all DPS, that this kind of behavior is not OK, and there are consequences for what happened."

On Monday night, DPS released a new statement which announced that it was planning to terminate Carter:

"The district maintains its investigation of this matter and is working closely with the Denver Police Department. Based on the evidence confirmed at this stage of the investigation, the district is taking action to immediately terminate the employee. This is a deeply troubling incident, and this type of conduct is completely reprehensible and inexcusable."