NBC NEWS- An Orange County, Florida, teacher is facing an investigation after accusations that she gave a student an unusual bathroom break.

Quonterius Thomas, who is a sixth-grader at an Orlando middle school said he had to urinate in a lunch box because his teacher wouldn't let him go to the bathroom.

"She wouldn't let me go," Thomas said. "And I asked her once again, and then she said 'no.'"

Thomas said his teacher gave him two alternatives.

"She gave me the option to either go in the lunch box, or go after class," he said. "At that point, I had to go real badly."

And so Thomas went to the back of the classroom and urinated in the lunch box the teacher had indicated, which was her own.

Thomas said this scenario did not allow for privacy.

"The whole class was watching," he said. "Nineteen, 20 students, they were all watching."

Thomas said he didn’t know why the teacher didn’t let him go to the bathroom.

"I guess she was just being mean or something like that," he said. "To tell you the truth, yeah, that was wrong what she did."

Thomas' mother, Shameka Bryant, said she was surprised that such a thing could happen to her son.

"I was very ashamed; I was embarrassed," Bryant said. "I was upset and I was in shock that that would happen to him. I didn't really believe him at first; I didn’t believe that that actually could have happened in the school system."

The incident allegedly happened on Thursday, and the teacher attended a conference in New Orleans over the weekend.

She returned to the area Tuesday.

Officials with Orange County Public Schools said the teacher was suspended with pay while an investigation is being conducted.

Dylan Thomas of the Orange County Public School System said that the board would not pass judgment until the teacher's side of the argument could be heard.

"She has not yet had that opportunity to tell us her side of the story," Thomas said. "She's just returned [to] town. So in the course of the next week to 10 days we will hear from her and collect other witness statements."