I have several comments to make, Peg was kind enough to direct me to this discussion and I am very glad she has. I live in Arkansas, in my school district at the elementary level there is a parental opt out clause in the district's corporal punishment policy, but in the middle school and high school there is not.

Like many of you have stated I think that noone should beat MY children with a weapon of any sort.

I have always included a comment stating not to use corporal punishment on my children in my student discipline consent forms. Last year I was told during a meeting by the assistant principle "I can paddle him anytime I see fit and there is nothing you can do about it, I am protected by state law" Which sadly is true, except at the elementary school where their own policy requires my written permission.

This year when I sent my two youngest off to elementary school, I wrote a comment referencing her threat of last year and informing them of my intentions to pursue legal actions if my wishes were not heeded, and for my middle school child I wrote that I did not give my permission for corporal punsihment to be used. I then received a letter from the superintendent of schools stating "by law we have the right to enforce any discipline measure in our handbook" and "Parents may not pick and choose which discipline measures they approve or disapprove of." He then goes on to suggest that if I don't wish to comply with this that I should take my children out of public school and educate them myself. He has since told me that there is nothing that I can do to prevent them from hitting my son at the middle school. I am appalled I want to know where MY rights as a parent went, where is my child's right to recieve an education without fear of being assaulted at school, not by bullying children but by the adults who are in charge? We as parents have a constitutionally protected right to parent our children and the Supreme Court has upheld it numerous times, that right does not end at the school house doors.

I am sure I have more comments to make, but will review the other posts before I add more.

Brandy

[ 09-26-2006, 04:42 PM: Message edited by: Iamme ]

www.wrightslaw. com.

An excellent source of information on individual education programs, IDEA and NCLB (no child left behind). Site includes an state by state yellow pages for children with disabilities resources.

Subscibe to the newsletter.
Another good site is www.schwablearning.org.

I am in Alabama. Our city school's parent-student handbook allows for corporal punishment for all sorts of things and is included in the discipline for Class I, Class II and Class III offenses. Seems to me that even folks who are pro corporal punishment wouldn't agree to it for anything less than a Class III offense.

And, actually, I misspoke. Only 2 of the 5 BOE members are doctors. Maybe they're just in the minority but are working toward altering the guidelines. I'll have to check into it. Here's what the handbook says:

The Board believes that corporal punishment is seldom necessary for the resourceful educator. If such punishment is required, it must be administered with extreme care, tact and caution and then only by the principal, assistant principal, or teacher with the knowledge and approval of the principal. No student shall be punished by corporal method unless it is done in the prescence of the principal or another staff member.

Crew Chief,
Are you in a paddling state or district?
If you would like to email, or talk, I am happy to provide contact info.
Peggy

Thanks for the info, Peg. I'll optimistically hope that the three medical doctors who currently sit on our city's school board are working toward upholding the AMA's recommendation. I'm new in town but you can be sure that I'll be looking into it.

www.geocities.com/forkidsake/position2.html

This link will take you to a page where you can click on the various organizations and read position statements supporting a ban of corporal punishment in schools.

POSITION STATEMENTS
"Over 100 national organizations oppose corporal punishment in schools. "

**PLEASE NOTE** These links may take you directly to the listed organization's web-site, to return to this listing, please select Position Statement on the table of contents to the left after viewing the position statement.


The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology


The American Academy of Pediatrics


The American Medical Association


The American Public Health Associaion


The American School Counselor Association


The National Association for the Education of Young Children


The National Association of Elementary School Principals


The National Association of School Nurses


The National Association of School Psychologists


The National Council of Teachers of English


The National Education Association
2000-2001 Resolution B-52: Discipline


The National Parent/Teacher Association Corporal Punishment Myths and Realities


The Society for Adolescent Medicine


Tennesseans for Nonviolent School Discipline


United Nations Committee on Rights of Child


107 ORGANIZATIONS CALL FOR AN END TO CORPORAL PUNISHMENT IN THE SCHOOLS OF THE UNITED STATES