Corpun file 12897
WorldNetDaily.com, 25 February 2004
Brave new schools
Father spanks daughter at high school
Girl had disrupted class, officials called police after dad's intervention
A father shocked students in a high school biology class by calling his daughter out of her seat and spanking her after learning she had disrupted
the class.
The unusual intervention at Cudahy High School in Cudahy, Wis., near Milwaukee prompted school officials to call in police.
But Cudahy police and the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare said after a review they found no basis for child abuse or neglect, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
"Obviously it's unusual to have a girl spanked in front of the class, it's highly unusual, but not a police matter, not at this time from the
information we received," Cudahy police Sgt. Randy Scheel told the paper.
A school official said "students were horrified," however, and some were angry administrators didn't intervene to stop it.
"It took everybody by complete surprise," said James P. Heiden, director of student services, according to the Milwaukee daily.
The paper said the district has changed its visitation policy for parents, allowing them now to meet students only in the office.
The girl's mother told the Journal Sentinel it was an isolated incident and her daughter "comes from a very loving family."
The incident was blown out of proportion and "the school handled it just fine," she said, describing the spanking as a "misjudgment" for which the family apologized.
School officials said the girl had disrupted her biology class Feb. 11, which prompted assistant principal Greg DePue to notify her father when he happened to be at school the next day regarding a matter with another child.
According to DePue, the father responded, "You know what? There won't be a problem in today's class because I'm going to be in there."
DePue said he took the parents to their daughter's class, and the teacher stepped out to talk to them. DePue then took over the class momentarily while the conversation went on, and after a little more than a minute, the father entered the classroom, the Milwaukee paper said.
He called his daughter to the front and told her he would not have her disrupting the class.
The father then ordered her to turn around, and he spanked her bottom.
"It was so fast," DePue told the Journal Sentinel. "It just happened."
DePue said police immediately were called after he went to the school office with the parents and their daughter. The girl was put in a separate
room.
Corpun file 13270
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 27 February 2004
The Morning Mail From Journal Sentinel Readers
Spanking
Students lack respect for adults, peers
Although it was a poor choice of venue, I applaud the father and family who take time to care about the attitudes and moral fiber of their children ("Father spanks his daughter in front of high school class," Feb. 24).
I teach in northern Wisconsin. Fortunately, we don't see a rash of discipline problems in our school, but there is an ongoing lack of respect from students for teachers, adults and, in many cases, peers.
I have seen a tremendous shift of social responsibility from the home to the schools in the past 20 years. I have no problem with helping configure the moral fiber of our young people, but my main job is teaching the three R's.
The specifics of social etiquette are supposed to be dealt with in the home. If parents would resume their parental responsibilities in a nurturing home atmosphere, the student may well flourish academically in the school setting.
At least a spanking lets the child know you care, even if not perceived in that regard at that time. As we mature, we remember some of those childhood reprimands and look at them as character-building, not as child-beating.
Parenting is no science, but it is one's most important responsibility as a parent.
Chad A. Austin
Medford
School administrators overreacted to discipline
In regard to the Feb. 24 article "Father spanks his daughter in front of high school class," shame on the disruptive student, shame on the Cudahy school administrators who called the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare and the Cudahy Police Department.
Congratulations to the Cudahy officer who originally ruled it not a police matter, and a gold medal to the parent who spanked his disruptive child in front of the class.
Tom Potisk
South Milwaukee
Society's outrage has been misdirected
Milwaukee child welfare officials should get their priorities straight! They should spend their time visiting the homes of at-risk foster children,rather than concern themselves with a father who rightfully spanked his daughter ("Spanking in Cudahy to get closer look," Feb. 25).
Case in point: Theresa Smith, a Milwaukee foster "mother," was caught on a video monitor forcing two little girls to hold up their arms for hours at a time. This is the type of behavior that should outrage us, not a father who is trying to teach his daughter to respect others.
Pamela Koleas
Milwaukee
© Copyright 2004, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved.
Follow-up: 4 March 2004 - Spanking won't result in charges
