Corpun file 15308
Chicago Tribune, 6 March 2005
School orders mom to spank son -- or else
6-year-old suspended after mother refuses to spank him for numerous
disciplinary infractions; instead she yanks him from school
By Diane Rado
Tribune staff reporter
Michelle Fallaw-Gabrielson home teaches her son, Chandler, after taking him out of Schaumburg Christian School. The 6-year-old was suspended after she refused to spank him for disciplinary infractions.
(Tribune photo by George Thompson)
A 6-year-old boy who often talked too much in class was suspended from 1st
grade at Schaumburg Christian School last week after his mother refused to spank him.
Chandler Scott Fallaw, a rambunctious boy, had been piling up disciplinary notes for talking, chewing gum, bringing toys to class and not finishing classwork, said his mother, Michelle Fallaw-Gabrielson. "By no means is my child perfect," she acknowledged.
But she never anticipated the ultimatum delivered at school Wednesday.
When she arrived to pick up Chandler, she said, assistant administrator Linda
Moreau told her the school needed assurances that the boy would be disciplined.
"She said, 'Either he gets a spanking before he leaves today, or I'm suspending him,'" Fallaw-Gabrielson recalled.
She said she refused to spank her son and left with the assistant administrator
calling after her: "You know he's suspended, and that's a very serious matter on his record."
Fallaw-Gabrielson withdrew Chandler from the school the next day.
"I was so shocked that they were putting me in this situation," she said.
As a Christian, Fallaw-Gabrielson knows well the old saying "spare the rod and spoil the child." But she can't bring herself to spank Chandler and uses alternative disciplinary measures instead, such as time-outs and taking away toys.
The American Civil Liberties Union in Illinois and other groups that follow the
corporal punishment issue say what happened to Chandler and his mother appears
to be legal, though highly unusual. Private schools have wide discretion in
discipline matters, they said, and parents agree to school policies when they
enroll their children.
Handbook spells out discipline
At Schaumburg Christian School, a ministry of Bethel Baptist Church that
serves about 1,300 preschool to 12th-grade students, "parent-administered
corporal punishment" is part of the disciplinary system for pre-kindergarten through 6th-grade children. The parent/student handbook states that "When this becomes necessary, parents will be asked to administer this form of punishment."
Parents also sign a "statement of cooperation" that lists parent-administered corporal punishment among its disciplinary guidelines.
Still, Fallaw-Gabrielson said it's not clear in any of the literature or
presentations that parents would be given an ultimatum that could lead to their
child's suspension.
Assistant Administrator Moreau declined to comment for this story and referred
calls to school administrator Randy Thaxton.
Thaxton said: "Our policies are reasonable. They are legal; they are in writing." He stressed that he could not discuss any student disciplinary case specifically, but said the school, as a last resort, does give parents the option of spanking their children or accepting a one-day suspension.
"When it gets to the point where the teacher can't solve the problem in the classroom, and the administration can't solve the problem, we ask parents to fix the problem," he said. "We'd say, `look, our policy is you have an option. You can spank your child, or we will suspend him for the day.'"
However, that situation is rare, Thaxton said. "We've had five students, of 565 in the first through 6th grades, in this position because of long-term,
unacceptable behavior," he said.
The case adds a twist to the emotional debate on corporal punishment that has
played out nationwide for decades.
Parents remember spanking
While parents growing up in the 1950s and 1960s may recall getting spanked at home and paddled at school, the practice has increasingly declined.
Just over half the states have banned corporal punishment by school officials
since the 1970s, with Illinois taking that action in 1994. Organizations for and against corporal punishment say that, with limited exceptions, the state bans in Illinois and elsewhere do not apply to private schools.
However, Illinois State Board of Education general counsel Jonathan Furr said
Friday that Illinois case law suggests the ban could apply to private schools,
though he cannot conclude that without more research.
In any case, an increasing number of private schools are shying away from
corporal punishment, said Burt Carney, director for legal/legislative issues for the Colorado-based Association of Christian Schools International. His
organization recently voted to discourage its member schools from using corporal punishment "because of today's litigious society and changing views on what is appropriate."
Thaxton said school officials do not administer corporal punishment at
Schaumburg Christian. Under the school policy, the parents do any spanking.
Even so, the school should be concerned about liability if a child is seriously
injured by a parent on campus, said Nadine Block, a former school psychologist
and executive director of the Ohio-based Center for Effective Discipline, which
works to eliminate corporal punishment.
Thaxton said the school has never been sued in the 11 years he's been in charge
and that enrollment has more than doubled from 600 students--proof that parents
want an academically challenging and disciplined environment.
The school started in 1971 as a preschool and grew to 12 grades by 1980. Parents agree to rules that include no physical contact between male and female students before, during or after school, and no rock music for junior and senior high students. Such music promotes rebellion, alcohol and drug use and other misbehavior, according to the school.
It goes back to Bible
Corporal punishment has a basis in the Bible, said Thaxton, pointing to a
phrase in Proverbs 13:24 in the leather-bound Bible on his desk: "He that
spareth his rod hateth his son." Inside one desk drawer, he keeps two paddles -- a ping-pong paddle, and a larger, lightweight wooden paddle that can be used for spanking.
Around the school Friday, a diverse group of students quietly and diligently
worked in cheerfully decorated classrooms. Elementary class sizes average 22 or
23 students; high school classes are even smaller. A group of kindergarten
students was reading, and 1st graders were reading text that included words such as carpenter, scientists and missionary.
Fallaw-Gabrielson, Chandler's mother, praised the school's academic program. At
home Friday--the boy is being home-schooled until the family moves to Aurora
next month--Chandler was doing exercises on punctuation and capitalization.
One of the problems, his mother said, was that the school did not deal
creatively with a rowdy but polite 6-year-old who tests at the 3rd-grade level
and may have been restless and bored.
Between September and March, Chandler got 20 "Tally Reports" outlining his misbehavior at school.
Many were for talking too much in class. "Chandler had a bad day today. He
talked all day," one said. Another said: "Chandler has been showing off all day."
Another reported that Chandler brought gum to school, which isn't allowed. "He offered gum to me," the teacher wrote. When she declined, he began chewing it himself.
Fallaw-Gabrielson said some of his behavior could stem from changes in the boy's life -- she had been a single mother raising Chandler and recently married.
Each time he gets into trouble, she tries to be consistent in her disciplinary
approach. But she remains steadfast in refusing to spank him.
"I'm a huge communicator," she said, "and I feel like physical is not the answer."
Copyright © 2005, The Chicago Tribune
Corpun file 15301
The Detroit News, Michigan, 6 March 2005
Paddles might work better in classrooms than Commandments
By Nolan Finley
The Detroit News
Best I can recall, the Ten Commandments were not posted in any
of the schools I attended while growing up.
But there were paddles hanging from the wall of every
classroom -- that I remember very well.
There was no standard-issue model. The paddles reflected the
individual tastes of their wielders.
Some were long and skinny, for those who favored velocity over
heft. Others were wide, for maximum coverage. Some had holes
drilled through the surface to cut down on wind resistance, and
many were personalized with war colors or the signatures of their victims.
A few even had notches along the edges.
These were not ceremonial artifacts. They were working tools,
kept within easy reach and pulled down with regularity to enforce
the only commandment that mattered in our world then: Thou shalt
not push the teacher over the edge.
We also knew well the formula for escalating punishment -- for
every stroke you got at school, you got two more at home. Nobody
filed a lawsuit against a teacher in those days for making a kid mind.
Paddles have long been vanquished from America's classrooms
and most homes. Perhaps for the best.
But I suspect that at least some of the decline in our schools
can be traced to the inability of teachers to maintain classroom
order with a good, strong forehand.
There are some who think the answer to restoring discipline
and moral behavior is to display the Ten Commandments in schools
and other public spaces.
Advocates went before the U.S. Supreme Court last week to make their case.
It's a waste of effort, even if they prevail. Simply carving
words in marble won't guarantee children will read them, or that
they'll buy the idea that life should be lived by a specific
moral rule set.
They won't get that from words set in stone. For the
commandments to have any impact on children, they have to see
adults living by them.
In the house I grew up in, a plaque of the Ten Commandments,
the words embossed on a gold background, hung in the hallway.
There was another one in my grandmother's living room and in the
homes of most of my friends and relatives.
But I can't say I ever bothered to read to the bottom of any
of those tablets.
I didn't really need to. I was raised by people who knew the
commandments by heart and who darn sure wouldn't spare the rod
when I got crossways of a few of them.
Maybe everyone, school children included, would act better if
everywhere they went they bumped into a list of the "Thou
shalts." But I doubt it.
After the first few encounters, the words would blur into the
wallpaper. Nobody would notice, let alone stop to read them.
You can't say that about paddles, though.
Hang a paddle on the wall, and it's hard to take your eyes off
of it. Take it from someone who remembers the sting of wood
hitting the sweet spot.
Maybe there's a better idea here.
Forget the plaques. Carve the Ten Commandments on paddles, and
hang those in classrooms.
At least there'd be a passing chance they'll get read.
Nolan Finley is editorial page editor of The News.
Copyright © 2005 The Detroit News.
Corpun file 15314
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pennsylvania, 9 March 2005
State ban on paddling unruly students not yet approved
By Lillian Thomas
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
(extracts)
Though the paddle wielded against unruly students is a rarity
in Pennsylvania schools, members of the state House Education
Committee are reluctant to hang it up altogether.
The committee canceled a meeting scheduled for yesterday to
discuss an update to education regulations because members are
uncomfortable with a provision that would prohibit corporal
punishment in schools. They also have concerns about changes to
regulations on students' freedom of expression.
Because of those concerns, expressed in a heated hearing last
month, the State Board of Education withdrew the proposed changes
and plans to rework them.
Corporal punishment is an issue that gets people on both sides
riled up, even though evidence indicates that it's not used that
frequently in the districts that permit it.
The state allows districts to set policy and does not keep
data on which districts permit corporal punishment, but a Temple
University study conducted several years ago found that about 400
of 501 school districts prohibited it.
[...]
Current Pennsylvania regulations let districts set policy on
corporal punishment, but in all cases parents must be notified
and can tell the district in writing that they do not want their
children subjected to corporal punishment. The proposed change
would prohibit corporal punishment except in self-defense, to
break up a fight, to gain control of a weapon or other dangerous
object, or to protect people or property.
Districts contacted for this article that permit corporal
punishment said it is used sparingly.
"It is rarely used but we do permit it," said
Deborah Kolonay, superintendent of Penn-Trafford schools.
The instrument is a paddle and the principal administers it.
It is not used at all at the elementary level, and no more than
10 times a year at the middle school level and 10 times a year at
the high school level, she said.
The district's policy is in the student handbook and in a
newsletter sent out each school year. In recent years, from one
to 20 families have notified the district that they wished to opt
out, Kolonay said.
"It is used as a last resort, and this after consultation
with parents and discussion between the principal and the
parents," she said.
State Rep. Jess Stairs, R-Mount Pleasant, chairman of the
House Education Committee, said he hadn't polled his members on
the issue. But at the hearing Feb. 23, some were specifically in
favor of retaining corporal punishment, while others said they
were reluctant to infringe on the right of individual school
districts to set disciplinary policy.
He said he shared the latter concern, seeing it as a
"balance of power" issue in which the executive branch
was usurping legislative branch powers.
Stairs said he would meet with education committee members as
well as members of the State Board of Education.
"We do want to draft a letter, so they can be a little
closer to what we want," he said.
[...]
The Associated Press contributed. Copyright © 1997-2004 PG
Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Follow-up: 18 March 2005 - State school board suggests ban on corporal punishment
Corpun file 15324
The Charlotte Observer, N. Carolina, 10 March 2005
Union schools: Paddling unlikely
Critics skeptical, insist ban would be better
By Emily S. Achenbaum
Staff Writer
The status of corporal punishment in Union County schools:
It's still on the books, but some say it's not likely to be used.
The Tuesday failure of efforts before the school board to
abolish or revise the district's corporal punishment policy means
"principals are in the same position they've been in,"
said Superintendent Jerry Thomas.
Thomas already had suspended corporal punishment after getting elementary school principals to agree not to use it. He said high schools and almost all middle schools had long ago stopped using corporal punishment. One remaining middle school was responsible
for half the county's 474 incidents in 2003-04, but that principal has retired.
So while corporal punishment is still valid in Union, some
think school administrators won't be reaching for the paddle
again after all the attention Union has received.
"I'd be really surprised if principals use it at
all," said board member Tripp Helms, who voted to abolish.
"Let the policy die in the book."
The "it's allowed, but we won't do it" stance isn't
sitting too well with some parents who wanted the punishment abolished.
"How are we going to trust them? Where's the accountability?" said parent Peggy Dean, a mother of four
who has led the effort to abolish corporal punishment. Dean said she didn't find the agreement to be binding.
Others said that even if educators pledge not to use the
punishment, the board should have gone a step farther to make a statement.
"(They) had the opportunity to pull their policies out of
the dark ages," said Weddington parent Scott Chepko. "I
feel embarrassed for the (board) and for how we in Union County
are perceived within the state and country."
Board Chairman Phil Martin, who voted to keep corporal
punishment, said he's disappointed the board couldn't agree to
either abolish the policy or revise it. Five board members voted
to abolish corporal punishment Tuesday. Four voted to keep it.
But a two-thirds "supermajority" is required for a
policy change, and no one on the divided board showed even a
passing interest in budging.
"Until there is a change of heart by one or more board
members, I don't think further discussion would be terribly
productive," Martin said later.
Though the board is deadlocked, the issue of corporal
punishment in Union County isn't necessarily over. The district's
policy has been revised 11 times in the past decade, but it still
lacks language required by state law.
State corporal punishment law requires students be told in
advance what types of behavior could result in corporal
punishment. It also requires school boards to make available a
list of those behaviors for students and parents at the beginning
of each school year. Union's policy doesn't do that.
The board did have a chance to revise the corporal punishment
policy Tuesday, when Vice Chairman Dean Arp made a motion to pass
a more exacting version.
It would have required written parental consent for the
punishment, and would have included a reminder to "foster
and nurture self-discipline among students." It also listed
the types of behavior could result in the punishment, such as
repeated class disruption and disrespect to faculty and staff.
Arp's motion failed, as some board members said they didn't
want to be on record supporting the policy in any form.
Corporal punishment opponents nationally have been watching
Union's policy for months, after a parental outcry led the
schools to re-examine it.
Critics maintain that minorities, boys and other groups, such
as the disabled, receive it at higher rates than others.
Proponents of corporal punishment describe it as a choice that
school administrators and parents should have the right to make,
and say it's more favorable than suspensions because children
don't miss class time.
How Some Board Members Justified Their Votes:
For corporal punishment
John Crowder: "Corporal punishment is a tool that
can be effective. It has served us well. Parents should have the
opportunity (to choose)."
Monica Frank: "Some people like it, some don't.
I'm one -- I like it. I think we should change some wording to
satisfy everyone."
Phil Martin, chairman: Martin said he wanted to remind
the board that spanking isn't abusive. Spanking is, "a few
swipes, with the intention to correct ... with love and concern."
(Note: Corporal punishment opponents consider spanking --
which involves a hand -- and corporal punishment that employs an
object to be different things.)
Against
John Collins: As a former teacher, "I administered
it several times. In almost every case, I spent at least a
sleepless night wondering whether I made the right decision. I
can truthfully say, I never spent a sleepless night over not
using corporal punishment."
Tripp Helms: "We're not elected to tell parents
whether we think spanking is right or wrong. It's a decision we
should return to the home."
Carolyn Lowder: "Our superintendent has
recommended (abolishing) it. I'd love to see this board move forward."
Kim Rogers: "In what evidence are we basing the support of this practice?"
Follow-up: 2 January 2007 - Union County Schools Ban Corporal Punishment
Corpun file 15327
The New York Times, 10 March 2005
College Expels Student Who Advocated Corporal Punishment
By Patrick D. Healy
Michael J. Okoniewski for The New York Times
Scott McConnell, on the campus of Le Moyne College in Syracuse,
advocated corporal punishment in a paper he wrote as a student.
The college dismissed him.
SYRACUSE, March 8 - As a substitute teacher in the public
schools here, Scott McConnell says students are often annoyed
that he does not let them goof off in class. Yet he was not
prepared for the sixth grader who walked up to his desk in
November, handed in an assignment, and then swore at him.
The profanity transported him back to his own days at Robert
E. Lee Elementary School in Oklahoma in the 1980's, when there
was a swift solution for wiseacres: the paddle.
"It was a footlong piece of wood, and hung on every
classroom wall like a symbol, a strong Christian symbol,"
said Mr. McConnell, who is 26. "Nobody wanted that paddle to come down."
He said he had been a disruptive student, and routinely
mouthed off until his fourth-grade teacher finally gave him three
whacks to the backside. Physically, it did not hurt. But he felt
humiliated and humbled.
"I never wanted that again," Mr. McConnell recalled. "It was good for me."
Supporting corporal punishment is one thing; advocating it is
another, as Mr. McConnell recently learned. Studying for a
graduate teaching degree at Le Moyne College, he wrote in a paper
last fall that "corporal punishment has a place in the
classroom." His teacher gave the paper an A-minus and wrote,
"Interesting ideas - I've shared these with Dr.
Leogrande," referring to Cathy Leogrande, who oversaw the
college's graduate program.
Unknown to Mr. McConnell, his view of discipline became a
subject of discussion among Le Moyne officials. Five days before
the spring semester began in January, Mr. McConnell learned that
he had been dismissed from Le Moyne, a Jesuit college.
"I have grave concerns regarding the mismatch between
your personal beliefs regarding teaching and learning and the Le
Moyne College program goals," Dr. Leogrande wrote in a
letter, according to a copy provided by Mr. McConnell. "Your
registration for spring 2005 courses has been withdrawn."
Dr. Leogrande offered to meet with Mr. McConnell, and
concluded, "Best wishes in your future endeavors."
If the letter stunned Mr. McConnell, the "best
wishes" part turned him into a campaigner. A mild-mannered
former private in the Army, Mr. McConnell has taken up a
free-speech banner with a tireless intensity, casting himself as
a transplant from a conservative state abused by political
correctness in more liberal New York. He also said that because
he is an evangelical Christian, his views about sparing the rod
and spoiling the child flowed partly from the Bible, and that Le
Moyne was "spitting on that."
He is working with First Amendment groups to try to pressure
Le Moyne into apologizing and reinstating him, and is considering
legal action as well as a formal appeal to the college. He says
Le Moyne misconstrued his views: he believes children should not
be paddled without their parents' permission. He said that even
then, the principal, as the school's head disciplinarian, should
deliver the punishment.
"Judges live in the real world, and I think they would
see that Scott got an A-minus on his paper and was expressing
views on a campus that supports academic freedom," said
David French, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights
in Education, a group based in Philadelphia that is supporting
Mr. McConnell. "It's hard to see a court looking kindly on Scott's expulsion."
Dr. Leogrande did not respond to telephone messages. Le
Moyne's provost, John Smarrelli, said the college had the right
as a private institution to take action against Mr. McConnell
because educators had grave concerns about his qualifications to
teach under state law.
Click to enlarge
|
New York is one of 28 states that ban corporal punishment;
most of those that allow it are in the South and West. Most
states did not ban corporal punishment until the late 1980's,
after parents, educators, and other advocates began pressing for
the laws. More than 342,000 students received corporal punishment
in the 1999-2000 school year, in the most recent figures from the
federal Education Department.
Because it has an accredited school of education, moreover, Le
Moyne officials said that the college was required to pledge that
its graduates will be effective and law-abiding teachers who will
foster a healthy classroom environment.
"We have a responsibility to certify people who will be in accordance with New York State law and the rules of our accrediting agencies," Mr. Smarrelli said. In Mr. McConnell's case, he said, "We had evidence that led us to the contrary."
Mr. McConnell said that he had been only conditionally
admitted to the graduate program; typically, such students earn
full admission by earning good grades and meeting other
requirements. Mr. McConnell added that he had earned mostly A's
and his fate rested largely on his November paper.
Mr. Smarrelli said that the paper itself was
"legitimate" and "reasonable," because the
assignment sought Mr. McConnell's plan for managing a classroom.
Yet Mr. McConnell's views were clearly not in the mainstream of
most teachers' colleges.
For example, many educators focus on nurturing students'
self-esteem, but Mr. McConnell scoffed at that idea in his paper.
He said he would not favor some students over others, regardless
of any special needs some might have.
"I will help the child understand that respect of
authority figures is more important than their self-esteem," he wrote.
Some professors and college officials were also concerned that
Mr. McConnell wrote that he opposed multiculturalism, a teaching
method that places emphasis on non-Western cultures.
In an interview, Mr. McConnell said he disliked
"anti-American multiculturalism," and gave as an
example a short story on the Sept. 11 attacks intended for
classroom use. The story, published in a teachers' magazine in
2002 by the National Council for the Social Studies, was about
young American boys teasing an Iraqi boy named Osama.
Mr. Smarrelli said Le Moyne had to ensure that its students
had the judgment, aptitude, temperament and other skills to
succeed in challenging their students.
But Dr. Smarrelli acknowledged that Le Moyne had not warned
students like Mr. McConnell that they could be removed for
expressing controversial beliefs, nor had the college said that
education students must oppose corporal punishment or support multiculturalism.
Joseph P. Frey, the assistant commissioner for quality
assurance in the New York State Education Department, who
monitors colleges and graduate schools, said he could not offer
an opinion on the McConnell case because he did not know the specifics.
Mr. Frey said: "One valid question is, 'Is the paper an
academic exercise in terms of theories of education, or is it a
belief that this is how Mr. McConnell will carry out corporal
punishment in the classroom no matter what?'"
Mr. Frey added, however, that private colleges have broad
latitude in accepting or rejecting students. And he said that
graduate education schools might face a threat to their
accreditation, or legal action by school districts, if they
produce teachers who fall into trouble.
During an interview at the kitchen table in the comfortable
suburban home he shares with his wife, Liz, a dentist, Mr.
McConnell said he had wanted to instill civic virtues in students
in the same way his teachers had in him.
As a child, he moved from Texas to Florida and then to
Oklahoma as his mother pursued failed marriages to "bad
men," he said. Teachers became a source of stability and
life lessons. They taught him to read, to respect others, and to
serve his country by inspiring him to join the Army.
"Because I didn't talk and think the same way that Le
Moyne did, because I didn't drink their Kool-Aid, I received the
ultimate punishment," Mr. McConnell said. "Corporal
punishment is nothing compared to this."
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
Follow-up: 19 January 2006 - Slap-happy 'Teach' Wins
Corpun file 15338
Springfield News-Leader, Missouri, 12 March 2005
Around the Ozarks
Board votes to end corporal punishment
The Nixa school board unanimously voted Thursday night to ban
corporal punishment in the district's schools, Superintendent
Stephen Kleinsmith said.
Kleinsmith cautioned that school officials weren't casting
judgement on how parents punish their children at home, saying
"that is their right."
But a wealth of scientific and educational research
"shows without a shadow of doubt that this is an
inappropriate practice of discipline for a public school to
use," Kleinsmith said.
"We know better and so we should do better," he said.
There were six paddlings in Nixa schools last year, Kleinsmith said.
Copyright © 2005, The Springfield News-Leader, a Gannett Company.
Corpun file 15423
Fort Stockton Pioneer, Texas, 17 March 2005
Pioneer Readers Write
Too many 'swats' at Intermediate?
In light of recent events at Fort Stockton Intermediate School, we as parents
of children who attend there have decided to come forward and make other parents
aware of the policy regarding corporal punishment.
Are you aware that you as a parent must send a handwritten letter that you do
not agree with your child being subject to corporal punishment? We were also informed
by a representative of administration that "Everybody makes mistakes" and could
not guarantee our children would not suffer from corporal punishment.
The form to agree or disagree with corporal punishment is nonexistent at Fort
Stockton Intermediate School. You may have signed a form at other elementary or
secondary schools. But this form is not available for you to sign at Intermediate.
Even though Intermediate falls under the elementary status for Fort Stockton Independent
School District. Are you aware of this?
Teachers have asked repeatedly for a type of form regarding corporal punishment
and they are still waiting. Are you also aware that a certain teacher may feel your
child's behavior warrants a "swat" and may give it without any prior approval by
you and at anywhere or time he sees fit to give a swat? This is even before you
have any prior knowledge of your child's so-called behavior - horseplay, not following
directions or talking - so you may be able to be a part of the solution to the problem.
The swat-happy teacher as always, this is his first resort... always, not the last.
According to the student code of conduct this is the last resort.
Why do we know this? Because we have experienced it first-hand in the last few
weeks. In our own investigation, we have come across several parents whose child
has undergone and suffered from these same exact incidents as previously mentioned.
A note or pink slip was sent home after the fact. We have also found that all of
the parents we have talked to are not aware of what they have to do to ensure their
child does not undergo the same circumstances. Even if you have a child who has
never been in trouble before, he or she is still subject to this type of punishment.
As a mother, I, Elizabeth Rosas, was made aware of this nonexistent form at Intermediate last year. I went through the proper procedure at that time and now at the beginning of this school year to send a letter to ensure this would not happen to my children. But to date Fort Stockton Intermediate School could not produce my letter! How's that for filing such an important document that was supposed to assure me my child was not subject to this type of discipline... Remember a statement was made "everybody makes mistakes." We say there should be no room for these mistakes!
But we are on a campaign to change this and to make this teacher accountable
for his actions. We are doing this to assure this does not happen to any other child
again. But we need your help! Has this happened to your child, and are you thinking
you signed a form at Intermediate regarding corporal punishment?
To agree or disagree? We have always agreed with corporal punishment and with
full trust in our school. That trust has been destroyed. We are against corporal
punishment without parent contact beforehand. Please let us know! You may contact
Sophia Franco at 940-2370 or Elizabeth Rosas at 336-2558. Something needs to be
resolved regarding this situation and someone will be held accountable for the unwarranted
assault that has taken place with our children and our future children who will
be attending Fort Stockton Intermediate School.
Elizabeth Rosas
Sophia Franco
Fort Stockton
Corpun file 15385
The Christian Science Monitor, Boston, MA, 17 March 2005
To paddle or not to paddle? It's still not clear in US schools
By Stacy A. Teicher
Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
When it comes to spanking, there's no such thing as a consensus in America's
schools.
Twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia have outlawed corporal punishment in public schools, all in the past 40 years.
But as the number of students feeling the sting of the paddle declines, some
parents and educators are digging in to defend it as an effective form of discipline.
It's another symbol of the nation's red-blue divide. Most states that still allow the practice are in the South and Midwest. But policies long favoring corporal punishment have come up for debate recently on Southern school boards -- in Union County, N.C.; Memphis, Tenn.; and Dallas.
"It's very uneven terrain out there," says Ronald Rohner, who is not pro or con but has researched the issue as director of the University of Connecticut's Center for the Study of Parental Acceptance and Rejection. "There's a movement back to it on the part of some schools, but some are banning it for the first time.... We'll be hearing more and more about this as time goes by."
Two recent cases show how strong the passions are on both sides, and how individuals can sometimes find themselves up against the prevailing local standard:
• In Chicago, the mother of a 6-year-old was called in to his private Christian school after he received multiple disciplinary notes for talking in class, chewing gum, and not completing assignments, the Chicago Tribune reported last week.
The mother said an administrator told her to spank her son there at the office or he would be suspended. The corporal punishment policy is in the school's handbook, but the mother was surprised by the ultimatum. She does not practice spanking and has withdrawn her son from the school.
• Scott McConnell, a graduate student in the education program of Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y., was told he could not continue because of a mismatch between the college's goals and his personal beliefs about teaching. One of those beliefs (expressed in a paper that received an A-minus) was that corporal punishment has a place in classroom discipline.
Corporal punishment is not allowed in New York public schools, but he says he didn't advocate practicing it in violation of the law.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a Philadelphia group, has taken up his case as a matter of academic freedom, and he hopes to be readmitted.
Mr. McConnell says his view is partly based on his own transformation from rude to respectful after being paddled by a caring teacher in the fourth grade.
Many defenders cite the Bible as their guide, saying that if a child needs correction, it's not loving to spare the rod.
"If the spanking can be done by an individual who knows the child and the child's parents, as is often the case in private schools and Christian schools, and if the parents wish that to be done, then it can be appropriate as long as it's in the proper context," says DuBose Ravenel, a pediatrician in High Point, N.C., and an adviser to the evangelical group Focus on the Family.
Dr. Ravenel does not support school corporal punishment for teenagers, and says it generally should be used only on children under 10.
Other proponents say it's practical for parents to be able to opt for the quick lesson of corporal punishment, rather than to have the student miss classes because of suspension.
Opponents counter that the practice is too likely to lead to abuse, and that
schools should be better role models.
"In the past 30 years, we have gotten better at understanding what makes kids tick.... We've got some alternatives to spanking ... and educators have a responsibility to teach kids how to solve problems without resorting to spanking," says Sal Severe, a veteran school psychologist and parent educator.
A number of child-advocacy groups have positions similar to the National Association of School Psychologists, which states that "corporal punishment negatively affects the social, psychological and educational development of students and contributes to the cycle of child abuse and pro-violence attitudes of youth."
Research weighs heavily in favor of alternatives, says Nadine Block, executive director of the Center for Effective Discipline in Columbus, Ohio. "The big catchword today is evidence-based practices, and there's no evidence to support corporal punishment in schools.... If it works, it should work the first time. They hit the same kids over and over."
Too often, she says, it's not used as a last resort, despite what policies dictate. And in some districts, "they don't allow parents to opt out."
A charter school student has sued in Texas, claiming she was injured after being restrained and hit with a wooden paddle known as "Ole Thunder," the San Antonio Express-News reports. Although her mother had signed a form permitting corporal punishment, the student had since turned 18, and claims that as an adult the school needed her consent.
Another common criticism is that racial minorities, children with disabilities, and boys bear the brunt of corporal punishment.
At one elementary school in Union County, for instance, black children were 47 percent of the student body but received 82 percent of the paddling in 2003-04, according to an analysis by the Charlotte Observer.
The superintendent has suspended corporal punishment until the school board revises or eliminates the policy.
Although experts say that 80 to 90 percent of American parents have resorted to spanking at one point or another, the trend toward alternative forms of discipline at home -- everything from "timeouts" to taking away privileges - has led to less corporal punishment at schools, too.
Between 1980 and 2000, the number of students struck in US public schools declined from 1.4 million to 342,000, according to analysis by the Center for Effective Discipline of data from the US Department of Education.
Two states -- New Jersey and Iowa -- ban the practice in private schools. But even where it's legal, some private schools are shifting away from corporal punishment for pragmatic reasons.
In its next newsletter, the Colorado-based Association of Christian Schools International plans to advise its member schools (including 4,000 in the US) against paddling.
"It's in recognition of the highly litigious society we're in right now," says Burt Carney, the group's director for legal and legislative issues. "It's just probably wiser for schools not to use that type of punishment."
Copyright © 2005 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.
Corpun file 15388
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pennsylvania, 18 March 2005
State school board suggests ban on corporal punishment
By Gabrielle Banks
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The state board of education voted overwhelming [sic] yesterday to
recommend a ban on corporal punishment in public schools.
It now will be up to the state Legislature to decide whether
to outlaw the practice, which is illegal in 28 states and the
District of Columbia.
Lest there be doubt among legislators, the board members
spelled out that students who misbehave may not be "spanked,
paddled or hit" with the intent "to cause pain." Currently, it is left to individual school districts to decide whether to allow the practice.
"It's an archaic and ineffective tool on children. We
don't allow adults to hit one another with boards, even to hit
animals with boards. It will bring Pennsylvania into the 21st
century," said Nadine Block, founder of the Center for
Effective Discipline in Ohio. Block said Missouri, Indiana and
Texas are also considering anti-paddling laws.
Board of education members voted 13-1 in favor of the changes,
after grappling with the language on the state law books on and off since 1996. Part of what stalled the decision was an ongoing
debate about a provision in Chapter 12 of the code, which would
limit students' free speech if they were threatening someone's
safety or encouraging illegal activities.
The one holdout on the paddling language, Larry Wittig, agreed
with the others that corporal punishment should never be applied
out of anger, revenge or frustration. He said it should be up to
each district to decide whether to have it on the books as a possible deterrent.
Rep. Ronald Miller, R-York, who will be weighing in on the issue in the House in the next couple of weeks, said school punishments worked for him. "We were worried about embarrassing our parents if we got paddled in school," said Miller.
Advocates of the practice did not offer data to back up the deterrence argument.
The practice is seldom used. State schools reported 90 cases
of corporal punishment last year. Only 9 percent of children live
in districts that administer physical punishment, most of them in
southwestern Pennsylvania, according to a study by the National
Center for the Study of Corporal Punishment.
"The myth is that it's going to be a teacher who has
tried everything and is exasperated, who paddles with
forethought," said Samuel Knapp, who has studied the issue
on behalf of the Pennsylvania Psychological Association.
"That's not really what happens."
The proposed changes must clear the House and Senate education
committees before the Legislature votes on Chapter 12.
Copyright © 1997-2004 PG Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Follow-up: 7 October 2005 - Board approves ban on spanking
Corpun file 15426
Tri-City Tribune, Marked Tree, Arkansas, 25 March 2005
EPC School Board discusses alternative school, hires principal
By Angela McIllwain
Tribune News Staff
(extracts)
Alternative learning environment, in school suspension
policies, and athletic field conditions were major topics of discussion at the East Poinsett County School Board Meeting held Monday, March 14.
[...]
The board also addressed concerns about discipline administered to students who have been in a fight on school property or at a school function. In the first instance the student in a fight is sent to the principles [sic] office to get a paddling. With a second offense, in school suspension is automatic regardless of the circumstances.
Looking to the future, board members discussed the possibility of extending the school day by 15 minutes and offering students eight period of classes, rather than the seven periods currently offered.
[...]
Copyright 2001. Tri-City Tribune. A division of the Northeast
Arkansas News Group.
Corpun file 15476
www.komu.com (KOMU-TV), Columbia, Missouri, 25 March 2005
To Spank Or Not To Spank In School
Reporter: Matt Flener
Web Producer: Paul Matadeen
In January, the New Franklin School Board told
its principals to stop using corporal punishment in schools. The
only problem is nobody has spanked a child in that district for
more than 25 years even though the school's policy still allowed it.
Many Mid-Missouri schools do allow corporal punishment, but most
do not use the paddle. Missouri is one of 21 states that still
allow such punishment. Of the schools nearby, Tipton Elementary
has the second-highest paddling rate in the area.
Amy Stover sends her sons to Tipton.
Both work in school, and neither have ever seen the paddle
usually sitting in the principal's office. She says, "I
asked my sons if anyone knew of their child being paddled, and
they don't." In order for a child to be punished, a decision
must be made between the parent, child and school official on
whether or not permission to "swat a child's buttocks" is given.
Tipton Superintendent, Paul Wootten, says, "If you go into a
community and find that it's working, you'll find it's a plan
that parents stand behind."
The parent has to know about the
punishment. Wootten says, "There is never a case in our
school where a parent doesn't know their kid has been
administered CP." Stover, the PTO president at Tipton, says
that's fair. She says, "Since parents get to choose, I think
the policy as it stands is a good one."
The policy to spank children, with influence from
the home, is allowed in more than 65% of Mid-Missouri schools.
In that number, 35 schools allow corporal
punishment but don't use it. Tipton is one of the 22 schools in
Mid-Missouri that do use corporal punishment. In the past six
years, principals at Tipton have spanked children 173 times, a
number second to the Iberia School District which reported 229
cases. The next highest school on the list is North Callaway R-1
with 16 spankings in the past six years.
Tipton principals have spanked children 16 times
just this year. Superintendent Paul Wootten says, "That's
really interesting." When he saw the numbers, Tipton's
superintendent says, "I can see where our district does use
this more than some districts. But when you're talking 16 times
with 600 students, that's not much." When you compare
schools like Tipton and the rest of Mid-Missouri to schools in
the southern part of the state, kids are not spanked nearly as much.
At the Poplar Bluff School District in southern
Missouri, officials gave 680 paddlings in a two year
period. Administrators say when they do spank a child, they'd
rather make a bigger sound than impact to get the point across
without hurting a child. However a different opinion can be found
not far from Tipton. High Point R-3 shares the same county as
Tipton, but not the same viewpoint.
Superintendent Toni Westbrooks says, "I feel like a school
district and an administrator is setting themselves up for a potential lawsuit."
Westbrooks reinforces her district's no spanking
policy to students and teachers. She says, "There are times
when you say just give that kid a swat. But you have to stop and
say, who's the adult here and who's the child." When a child
acts up at a high point, that student sits away from the class
and writes her or her emotions on a piece of paper, a punishment
the first grade teacher likes. First Grade Teacher Cathy
Kliethermes says, "If you can modify behavior without
intimidation or negatives, why not."
At the Stover household back in Tipton,
the children's' mother says she's never spanked her children out of
anger or intimidation. She also says the school should only use
it as a last resort. "The child always has pre-warning, and
the swats never take place the day of the action." She does
agree, however, the school's discipline policy should reflect
what happens at home. Stover says, "The reason why they've
kept it in is because the parents wanted it in. And if it ever
came to a point where the community doesn't want it in, I feel
secure the school board would listen."
Bigger school districts like Columbia and Fulton
do not allow corporal punishment in schools. However, there are
some larger school districts that shun the popular myth that such
punishment only happens in rural schools. One larger district
says spanking is still OK while two of the smallest say it is not.
Many people are split over a piece of
wood, a wooden stick. When a student starts talking too much in
Kliethermes' class, she says she could never teach another lesson
synonymous with wooden sticks. She says, "I don't feel like
you have to intimidate a child in order for them to behave."
Her school's policy, along with 28 other districts in
Mid-Missouri, says don't spank children. High Point's
superintendent quickly agrees with her co-worker. Westbrooks
says, "It may be quicker to swat, but it never gets to the
root of the issue."
Some students in New Franklin brag and grin about
their unblemished records. However, if a student receives a few
bad marks on a discipline history, top school officials say
that's no reason to hit. Dr. Jeanie Gordon says, "I can hit
you because I'm bigger? We don't want that!"
She says it's been at least 25 years since a school official
paddled a child. 1980 is about the last time New Franklin School
officials can remember corporal punishment being used in schools.
However, as seasons have changed, the corporal punishment policy
hadn't, until January of this year.
In January, Dr. Gordon noticed the policy books
said she could still spank a child. She quickly asked the School
Board to get rid of that language. She says, "What better
place than the school with our kids to teach our kids to treat
each other with respect." In a survey of each Mid-Missouri
school district's policy on corporal punishment, 22 schools were
found to have spanked children in the past six years. Those
schools totaled 520 spankings.
The prevailing myth says only rural school
districts use corporal punishment, though High Point R-3 in rural
Moniteau and New Franklin in rural Howard counties do not. In
fact, of the ten largest districts in Mid-Missouri, half allow
corporal punishment. The biggest district to allow it is
Jefferson City. Superintendent Dr. Bert Kimble says, "We're
39,000 people, but it seems smaller."
Dr. Kimble says community standards define the
schools' policy on corporal punishment. He says, "I think we
hold some very traditional values, some core values that many
people still hold." Kimble continues, "Parents have
many times asked us to administer corporal punishment as an
option, rather than place a child in school." Those values
sound the same in the High Point School District just 20 minutes
away. Toni Westbrooks says, "People have been here for 100
years. They're well rooted in what they expect."
However, each school's spanking policies stand in
opposition.
Dr. Kimble says, "Obviously the Superintendent of High Point
disagrees with that." Based on recent changes in policy, New
Franklin's superintendent disagrees as well. We asked New
Franklin's Superintendent "Do you hope 10 years from now,
there is no corporal punishment in schools?" She said,
"I don't understand why there is now." For now, there
remains a difference of understanding as to how to use a wooden
stick to help a child learn. The policy allowing corporal
punishment in Jefferson City and in most Mid-Missouri districts
says principals must only use corporal punishment as a last
resort and only with a parent's permission.
© KOMU-TV8 and the Missouri School of Journalism. Some information courtesy Associated Press
