Pennsylvania Schools May Ban PaddlingE
By Maryclaire Dale, Associated Press Writer
Originally published by The Associated Press, May 19, 2002
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Julie Bailey doesn't always oppose spanking. But she objected when she heard that her learning-disabled stepson had allegedly been slapped on the head by a teacher.
"I don't hit my son in the head, and I don't feel anybody else should," said Bailey, 26, who lives in rural Sugar Grove, a few miles from the New York state line.
Bailey said the 12-year-old, who takes Ritalin for attention deficit disorder, and another boy were struck by a Sugar Grove Elementary music teacher because they wouldn't stop sliding a chair across a floor.
Corporal punishment is permitted in public schools in 23 states, including Pennsylvania. Most leave the decision up to local officials.
But a committee of the Pennsylvania Board of Education recommended last Wednesday that physical force by school staff be banned, except in self-defense or to restrain a student. The committee will hold public hearings in June before the full school board votes and sends its plan to the Legislature.
"You can't do it to dogs, or pigs, or you'd get charged with cruelty to animals. You can't do it to spouses, you can't do it in the military anymore. Children are really the only unprotected class," said psychologist Robert Fathman of Dublin, Ohio. He founded the National Coalition to Abolish Corporal Punishment in Schools after his daughter was paddled 15 years ago.
Fathman says depression, anxiety, bed-wetting and low self-esteem can follow corporal punishment, especially if it's done in front of other children.
"Children's grades often go down, because if you're anxious you can't concentrate," said Fathman.
"Middle school kids in eighth grade get it the most," Fathman said. "Learning-disabled kids get hit more often than kids who are not learning disabled, which is especially horrifying."
For 1997-98, the most recent time for which data is available, U.S. public schools reported 365,000 incidents of corporal punishment, down from 1.5 million in 1976, according to data from The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.
Liability issues and changing attitudes toward spanking and paddling are among the reasons for the decline.
"Any district that does (use it) needs to be aware of the enormous consequences that could be involved in terms of criminal or civil liability," said Wythe Keever, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association.
U.S. courts have never banned corporal punishment in public schools, but six federal appellate circuits have said extreme force should not be used. The 11th Circuit, writing in a Georgia case that involved a student who allegedly lost an eye at the hands of a coach, said students should be free from corporal punishment that is "intentional, excessive, and creates a foreseeable risk of serious injury."
The 1997-98 data, which was collected by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, said Mississippi had the highest per-capita rate with more than one incident for every 10 students. In Pennsylvania, 90 students were struck, a rate of less than one-tenth of one percent.
"I think the notion that you can beat a child into a model student mode is essentially outdated by today's educational standards," said Greta Durr, a research analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures in Denver.
Anti-paddling advocates in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Wyoming and Colorado hope to see the practice outlawed in the next year or two.
But in southern Ohio's rural Western Brown Local School District, which has 3,370 children, more and more parents are giving permission for corporal punishment.
"I'd say it's probably increased since we have talked about it, and discussed it, and given the option to parents," said Superintendent Michael Wells.
"We feel that each individual child responds to different methods of discipline in different ways. Some children, all you have to do is speak to them. … Some children, corporal punishment takes care of it," Wells said. In Warren County, where Bailey's stepson Zachary was allegedly slapped, officials put away the paddle years ago and the part-time music teacher who allegedly struck him was disciplined, although she remains on the job, said Assistant Superintendent Hugh Dwyer.
Since that day, Bailey has been attending her son's weekly music class.
"Since this happened, his attitude has been totally different. He's been more agitated," Bailey said. "He was embarrassed. He was very embarrassed."
