Updated

A Maine elementary school teacher is being credited with saving the life of a student just before the Thanksgiving holiday.

Superintendent Rick Colpitts told the Board of Directors at Monday's meeting that Paris Elementary School teacher Alice Deegan performed the Heimlich maneuver on the sixth-grader after a water bottle cap got stuck in the student's throat.

The Sun Journal reports that Colpitts said Deegan immediately recognized the look of panic in the boy's face, assessed the situation and dislodged the cap in the cafeteria just before the Thanksgiving break.

"The student is alive today because she got involved and had the knowledge to do it," Colpitts told the paper.

Principal Jane Fahey says once the cap was dislodged and it was determined the boy was all right there was a huge roar from the children and a standing ovation for their teacher.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report