N.C. Senate OK's Paddling in Schools
Thursday, June 25 2009
by Laura Leslie
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State Senate lawmakers defeated a measure that would have required parental consent for paddling. Under the proposal, schools that use corporal punishment would have had to ask parents for permission to paddle students. Kids whose parents didn't consent would be disciplined by other means. Supporters said parents should have that choice.
But Republican leader Phil Berger said it would mean the end of paddling for all students. "A teacher is not going to have two students that do the same thing and discipline one of them with corporal punishment and not the other," says Berger. "It just won't happen."
The original bill would have also required the fifty-five districts that still use corporal punishment to keep data on whom they paddle and why. The State House approved the measure, but the Senate voted it down by a slim margin.
