MIAMI -- Miami-Dade school police are investigating allegations that a teacher used a questionable form of discipline -- locking a student in a closet.

The teacher at Lawton Chiles Middle School in Miami Beach allegedly locked a 13-year-old seventh-grader in a closet located inside a portable classroom. The punishment was allegedly meant as a "time out" for the student.

The school's assistant principal allegedly alerted police after learning of the disciplinary measures being used by the teacher, Yeline Sandleris. Students at the school said they sometimes study inside the closet, and that during study time, the door was left open. But the students allegedly told another teacher, Tracy Berger, that on Monday, the door was closed.

When investigators arrived, they heard a noise coming from inside the locked closet and opened the door to find the boy inside.

Sandleris was reassigned while the investigation proceeds. Police were investigating whether a second teacher was involved in using the closet to discipline students. That teacher was not at work on Tuesday.

School district spokesman Mayco Villafana told reporters school police did not believe the incident "rose to the level of a crime," and administrators pointed out that the closet amounted to a small room, with at least one desk inside.

School officials said the door could be opened from the inside.