Georgia school to bring back paddling
HEPHZIBAH, Ga. (WTHR) – A local school in Georgia is bringing back an old school policy to disciple their students this year.
Georgia School for Innovation and the Classics, a K through 9 charter school, recently sent home consent forms to inform parents of the new corporal policy.
According to NBC affiliate WAGT, the superintendent says they’ve received a little over a hundred forms back, a third of them giving consent to paddle their child.
The form says:
A student will be taken into an office behind closed doors. The student will place their hands on their knees or piece of furniture and will be struck on the buttocks with a paddle.
If parents opt out of paddling, they have to agree to up to five days of suspension.
This type of discipline is still legal in Georgia and 19 other states but it's rare for a school to have a policy for it.
Under the school's policy, parents will be contacted if their child is paddled and the school says they will use a three strike policy so the paddling doesn't happen on the first or second offense.
https://www.wthr.com/article/georgia-school-brings-back-paddling-policy
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I'm reminded of a very conservative friend whose view on corporal punishment was the very common "no one lays a finger on our children but us." I had already returned the form after taking a yellow highlighter to the "NOT" statement I inserted and was there when Judy was called because she hadn't returned the consent. She made sure they understood her position over the phone so coolly, crisply, and extremely definitively that I bet her they used a yellow highlighter at their end also. 
Btw, this charter school gets government funds, and I bet this policy gets taken to court, if not here elsewhere. An automatic alternative of 5 days suspension sounds like an attempt to coerce people who simply can't take that time off work. It also harms the children. I don't know the demographics of the school, but I looked up the town -- nearly a third black.
What sort of pervert paddles high school students?
Sliding down rock faces and jumping out of moving cars.
It sounds like you had very wise parents, talking you into (temporary) submission.
I bet you were a good teacher.
We used to laugh telling certain stories about my husband (not sure any involved an actual arrest, but he grew up in a Mayberry kind of place.) But when our son got old enough to listen, we stopped telling those stories -- didn't want to give him any ideas! And of course, he found his own dumb stuff to do.
We all lived through it though.
But it was in the rural north country and in the early '60s, I still cringe when I remember that, couldn't imagine that happening today.
I'm kinda horrified when I think of it today, it boggles the mind that in this day and age anyone could think of bringing it back.
I only remember it happening in that particular elementary school and I attended several (we moved). This happened in the public elementary school where I attended third grade in Ticonderoga. The school only went up to fourth grade, the fourth grade teacher (middle aged lady - all the teachers were) was also the principal and she did the paddling. I remember she had a ping pong paddle and did the paddling in the boys' cloak room. And you're right, it was a couple of boys who got paddled, not sure if any girls were, but we all knew about it so the threat was always there.
The two boys I knew about were in my third grade class. They really were incorrigible, used to spend their time shooting sharp pieces of lead from the ends of pencils around the room. I remember them being older and they didn't pass third grade that time around, either. I feel sorry for the teacher, I liked her a lot. 
And it wasn't always done in private. During PE the teacher gave a couple of boys who were messing around in the shower two whacks each--on their bare, wet butts.
I guess it could have been worse--it could have been a male PE teacher who administered the punishment.
to do that?
When I was a second grader, and a very quiet and shy one at that, my teacher Miss Wickham thought I wasn't paying attention, walked by my desk and pulled my ear - hard. I remember feeling so humiliated. This was about 1962.
One never forgets these moments 
Last edited Tue Sep 11, 2018, 05:36 PM - Edit history (1)
Not hard to get a school policy on discipline enacted but try implementing a pro-LGBTQ policy (or even policies that protect students from bullying because we all know that that means that Xtian kids can't bully LGBTQ kids) and the wingnuts lose their minds.
Can you imagine someone doing that to your kid? Anyone’s kid?
in the mid to late 80s. Private christian school that went from pre-k through 12th grade. I was there until the 3rd grade--I don't know how the older kids were disciplined, but with us, they'd hit the palm of our hands with a ruler. I don't think it was helpful, and punishments were doled out in an unfair manner. One thing I'll note is that I came out of there a beast, performing on par with middle schoolers+ as far as reading, writing, math, etc. However, the corporal punishment probably hurt more than helped in that outcome. 
