KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – A teacher who is on administrative leave as school and police officials investigate her conduct in the classroom contends she didn’t intend to hurt her students.

South Doyle High School chemistry teacher Michele Brown acknowledged her use of duct tape to quiet one student, ushering another back to their seat by the arm, and putting stamps on the forehead of students who missed homework “were a little unorthodox, but never meant to be malicious,” WATE.com reports.

“I love the kids,” Brown said. “I went into teacher after my cancer because I love helping kids. It was never meant to hurt them, never meant to embarrass them.

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“I’m in a very painful spot right now, honestly,” she said.

School administrators placed Brown on paid administrative leave Oct. 17 and last week told her to clear out her chemistry classroom as school officials investigate allegations of inappropriate conduct. Brown told the news site the investigation comes after she put a small piece of duct tape over a talkative student’s mouth, which she regrets, WATE reports.

“After three or four warnings, I went over to my desk and got a piece of duct tape out and put a four inch piece of duct tape gently on his mouth to give him some sort of a reminder that he needed to control his mouth and be quiet,” Brown said.

A parent of one of Brown’s students alleges the teacher stamped her daughter on the forehead over missing homework, but Brown said she “never forced anyone to have a stamp.”

The teacher is also accused of pinching a student, which Brown said must have been by accident when she ushered a different student back to their desk.

“I was trying to get him to sit down and so I took him by the arm and led him back to his seat and told him to sit down and the only thing I can think of is that my thumbnail had scratched him or something,” Brown said.

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Nearly all of those who commented on Brown’s predicament defended the teacher, and several blamed parents for sending unruly kids to school.

“Sounds to me like a little parenting is in order here as well,” John Humphries posted on Facebook. “Teachers shouldn’t have to deal with a lot of the abuse they deal with every day.”

Knoxville resident Lee Sloan agreed.

“Sounds like some parents need to get their children under control and grow a sense of humor!!!” Sloan posted. “Wow!!”

Ruth Ann Mullett said she has been in Brown’s classes, and doesn’t envy the teacher for the students she’s tasked with teaching.

“I had to sit in two of her Chemistry classes because my physics teacher was subbing for her for a few days, and after seeing how misbehaved her classes are, it’s pretty obvious,” Mullett posed to Facebook. “Both classes … were pretty small, but it was full of loud, disrespectful students. My physics teacher was angry and getting loud with all the students, something I’ve never seen.

“He’s always really chill and never gets mad or yells at my class, and we can get a bit rowdy too. I don’t think Ms. Brown meant to get herself into trouble to do anything wrong, she was probably just sick of none of the kids listening to her.”