PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A middle school teacher is on leave after allegedly putting a student in a “choke hold,” though he’s still being paid, per the teachers union contract.

The student and his father told police on Oct. 20 that the boy was in detention when the teacher, Bo Loeung, “grabbed the boy around his neck and squeezed,” police Maj. David Lapatin tells the Providence Journal.

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Photos taken of the boy’s neck showed bruising, Lapatin says.

Police conducted an investigation and they notified the teacher Friday of the pending charge: one count of simple assault.

He reported to the police station and was arrested.

Christina O’Reilly, director of communications for the Providence School Department, tells the paper Loeung was placed on administrative leave “pending the outcome of the criminal and school department’s proceedings.”

He will continue to be paid, in accordance with the teachers’ contract, she adds.

Loeung was released and is scheduled to appear in District Court on November 6th, according to ABC 6.

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The district released a statement saying in part:

We have learned that a Providence teacher has been arrested and charged with assaulting a student. Upon learning of the incident last week, we acted immediately to remove the teacher from the classroom and have been conducting our own investigation, concurrent with and in cooperation with the police investigation.

The individual has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcomes of both the internal and criminal proceedings.

Our educators are to be held to the highest standards as role models in their students’ lives, and the alleged behavior is absolutely intolerable.

The school’s motto, according to the large sign on the outside of the building, is: “Helping to better the lives of others is the greatest of all achievements.”