If it was my kid I would have thanked the teacher for taking the first step in my child's ultimate reformation. A little soap in the mouth would be the least of that kid's worries. No TV. No Nintendo/Gameboy. No time on the computer unless it involved homework.
If I had acted up like that as a kid when I was growing up I would have gotten the belt taken to my arse for three solid licks (and I did on more than one occasion). I then would have been grounded for likely two weeks in a case like this.
That lack of discipline and a complete undermining of the authority figure's role in this child's development is an abomination. If teachers across this country are going to have to tolerate that sort of behavior then we'll be lucky to have any decent teacher left in the profession.
Would administration officials at this school have supported a paddling? Corporal punishment has a place in correcting unruly, undisciplined and surly behavior that disrupts the learning environment of other kids. A little soap in the mouth of this yard ape, again if he were mine, would be the least of his worries.
Of couse if he were mine he would have known better than to behave that way in the first place.