Comment A school district in southwest Missouri is bringing back a measure it last resorted to two decades ago to deal with disciplinary problems: beating students. Classes started Monday for the 1,900 students in the Cassville R-IV School District, about an hour west of Branson and about 15 miles from the Arkansas border. During the open house, families were informed that the school board had adopted a policy in June allowing “the use of physical force as a method of correcting student behavior.” Parents were given forms to clarify whether they authorize the school to use a paddle on their child, the Springfield News-Leader reported. Formally known as corporal punishment, the disciplinary measure usually involves hitting students on the buttocks with a wooden paddle. In Cassville, staff members will use “reasonable physical force” — without “likelihood of physical injury or harm” — in the presence of a witness, according to the new policy. A teacher or principal must also send a report to the superintendent explaining the reasoning behind the punishment. Exactly what constitutes “reasonable physical force” is unclear. Superintendent Marilyn Johnson declined an interview request from The Washington Post, saying, “Right now we’re going to focus on educating our students.” However, he told the News-Leader that younger students could get one or two paddle swings, while older students could get up to three. Parents, Johnson said, had thanked the district for endorsing the practice that has mostly declined across the country. “Parents said ‘why can’t you row my student?’ and we say ‘We can’t paddle your student, our policy doesn’t support that,’” Johnson told the agency. “There has been conversation with parents and there have been requests from parents that we look into it.” Corporal punishment is not new in American schools. For centuries, students have been whipped or beaten with rulers and paddles. In 1867, New Jersey became the first state to ban the practice in public schools, but it was more than 100 years before other states followed suit. Even so, a 1977 Supreme Court decision — Ingraham v. Wright — deemed corporal punishment in public schools constitutional and left it to the states to decide what to do. Punishment is still legal in public schools in 19 states — including Missouri. Almost all states – except New Jersey and Iowa – also allow it in private schools. Twin study links hitting to antisocial behavior Groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association have warned that corporal punishment can cause academic, emotional and behavioral problems. A 2016 Journal of Family Psychology study found that spanking increased the risk of aggression and antisocial behavior. The United Nations considers corporal punishment a violation of human rights. The international organization’s Convention on the Rights of the Child urges countries to ban the practice. “In any other context, the act of an adult striking another person with a board … would be considered assault with a weapon and punishable under the criminal law,” wrote researchers Elizabeth T. Gershoff and Sarah A. Font on corporal punishment in a 2016 study. The Government Accountability Office says the number of American students subjected to corporal punishment is “significantly underestimated.” The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, which collects data on the practice, recently reported data for the 2017-2018 school year. These figures show that more than 69,000 were hit in schools across the country. Mississippi had the highest rate, with more than 20,000 students, according to the office, followed by Texas with nearly 14,000 and Alabama with more than 9,000. In Missouri, nearly 2,500 were punished. The Florida principal caught on video groping a 6-year-old student will not face charges How the measure returned to Cassville after being dormant since 2001 began with an anonymous survey sent in May to parents, students and staff, Johnson, the superintendent, told KY3. “One of the suggestions that came out was concerns about student discipline,” he told the station. “So we responded by employing many different strategies, corporal punishment being one of them.” Johnson said disciplinary action will only be used as a last resort when punishments such as suspensions or detentions don’t work. “We like positive reinforcement. That works with a lot of kids,” Johnson told the News-Leader. “However, some kids play the game and their behaviors don’t change.” Some parents are not happy. Miranda Waltrip, who has three children in the area, said she was shocked by the policy, which she called inappropriate, OzarksFirst.com reported. “We live in a very small community where people were raised a certain way and they’re kind of covered in that fact that they grew up with discipline and swats,” Waltrip told the outlet. “And so, for them, it’s like going back to the good old days, but it’s not because it’s going to do more harm than good at the end of the day.”
