TACOMA, Wash. -- A Tacoma kindergarten teacher is suspended without pay after allegations of assaulting a student.

School officials at the Mary Lyon Elementary did not answer questions regarding the investigation Thursday when KIRO 7 reporter Kevin McCarty showed up at the school.

“If you want to talk about the teacher who was suspended, I'm sorry, I'm not able to do that,” one school official said.

In a statement, school district spokeswoman Patti Holmgren said, ”We are investigating alleged inappropriate physical consequences or discipline involving a student. Police have been contacted."

Holmgren said the child's parent reported the incident that sources said involved a kindergarten teacher and student, occurring sometime within the last week.

Tacoma police confirm they are looking into the incident, but so far, exactly what happened isn't clear.

KIRO 7 was unable to reach the teacher for comment on the allegation.

Some parents said they hadn't been told about the allegation.

“I think that's wrong and I'm happy they did get suspended because they shouldn't be doing that to children. That's not right at all,” said parent Danielle Dawson.

The student involved did not require any medical treatment, and according to police reports, the child didn't tell his or her parents about it for several days.

It's not clear how long the investigation will take.