Corpun file 26585 at www.corpun.com
Salem News, Missouri, 18 July 2017
Dent-Phelps R-III Board
Board approves corporal punishment as option for discipline
(extracts)
The Dent-Phelps R-III Board of Education had its regular session meeting in the conference room July 13.
The board approved that a tax levy hearing will be set for 7 p.m. Aug. 17, with the regular August board meeting to follow.
Approved by the board, was a motion to accept the update to Policy JG-R1 -- Student Discipline (Update 2016 C), adding corporal punishment as an option for all discipline issues.
The motion was also approved to accept Policy Update 2016 D (part 2), 2017 A and 2017 B, with the exception of GDPD, GDPE and ECA.
Other News
[...]
- Alissa Brookeshire moved to approve the Parent/Student Handbook, with changes noted. The board approved the motion.
[...]
Present for the meeting were Alissa Brookeshire, Paul Gillam, Frank Barnitz, Justin Headrick, Will Loughridge, Bill Manthey, Vicky Brooker, and Kevin Creighton. Absent for the meeting was Ron Copeland.
© Copyright 2017, Salem News, P.O. Box 798 Salem, MO
Corpun file 26695 at www.corpun.com
Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Texas, 19 July 2017
Paddling to be allowed at Three Rivers ISD
Three Rivers Independent School District trustees adopted a policy to allow corporal punishment in schools.
By Beatriz Alvarado
Corpus Christi Caller-Times
(extracts)
Three Rivers ISD administrators are going shopping for a paddle. As part of a new policy approved by the board, the paddle, likely to be wood, will be used to administer corporal punishment when a student misbehaves at school.
Three Rivers Independent School District trustees voted 6-0, with one trustee absent, in favor of adopting a policy to allow corporal punishment.
(Photo: Beatriz Alvarado/Caller-Times)
Corporal punishment is defined as the deliberate infliction of physical pain by hitting, paddling, spanking, slapping, or any other physical force used as a means of discipline.
Three Rivers Independent School District trustees voted 6-0 on the motion, with one trustee absent. The policy states only a campus behavior coordinator or principal can administer the disciplinary measure at their discretion. Three Rivers ISD students whose parents have provided written and verbal consent will receive one paddling for his or her infraction when they misbehave at school.
Three Rivers ISD CP Policy
Parents will be able to decide, upon registering their children for the upcoming school year, whether they want to opt in or out.
"If the parent is not comfortable with it, that's the end of the discussion," Three Rivers ISD Superintendent Mary Springs said.
Texas is among 15 states that specifically allow schools' use of corporal punishment; eight other states have no laws or regulations against it, according to the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments, part of the U.S. Department of Education.
In November 2016, then Department of Education secretary John B. King Jr. sent a letter to state leaders urging them to end the use of corporal punishment in schools.
[...]
Three Rivers Elementary School's campus behavior coordinator, Andrew Amaro, pitched the idea to district leaders earlier this year. Amaro, a Three Rivers native, said he hopes the new disciplinary measure will have a more immediate effect on students than do ISS (In School Suspension) or detention.
Prior to Tuesday, the district had a policy prohibiting the use of corporal punishment. It's unclear what year the board adopted that policy, but Amaro recalls being disciplined with a paddle during his time as a Three Rivers ISD student.
"I believe it worked," Amaro said. "It was an immediate response for me. I knew that if I got in trouble with a teacher and I was disrespectful, whatever the infraction was, I knew I was going to get a swat by the principal."
Amaro said students will be paddled for minor infractions, such as being disobedient to teachers or not following rules in the classroom.
Education Service Center for Region 2 oversees 41 independent school districts in South Texas. Of those, 13 had local policies in place in 2015 that prohibited the use of corporal punishment: Alice, Benavides, Corpus Christi, Driscoll, Flour Bluff, Kingsville, London, Port Aransas, Ricardo, San Diego, Santa Gertrudis, Sinton and Skidmore-Tynan.
As of 2015, 27 independent school districts in Region 2 had policies in place allowing corporal punishment to be used as a form of discipline: Agua Dulce, Aransas County, Aransas Pass, Banquete, Beeville, Ben Bolt-Palito Blanco, Bishop, Brooks County, Callalen, Freer, George West, Gregory-Portland, Igleside, Kenedy, La Gloria, Mathis, McMullen, Odem-Edroy, Orange Grove, Pawnee, Pettus, Premont, Riviera, Robstown, Taft, Tuloso-Midway, Three Rivers and West Oso.
All districts that allow corporal punishment require parental consent for such disciplinary measures to take place.
School districts in Texas are not required to report corporal punishment incidents to the Texas Education Agency, said TEA spokeswoman DeEtta Culbertson.
Springs said tracking the incidents will be crucial to evaluating the new policy's effectiveness in deterring students from misbehaving consistently.
"We will look at how many discipline referrals were made compared to last year and how many times (corporal punishment) was administered," Springs said. "If it reduces the number of discipline referrals, then that is a good thing."
Follow-up: 27 July 2017 - South Texas school district brings back corporal punishment (with video clip)
Corpun file 26603 at www.corpun.com
The Advance-Monticellonian, Monticello, Arkansas, 20 July 2017
MSD Revises handbooks; Prepares For '17-18 Year
By Harold Coggins
(extract)
In the final meeting before school begins again Aug. 14, the Monticello School Board went over policies and procedures for the upcoming year in the July meeting Tuesday night at the MSD Central Office.
Among discussing the district's and each school's handbook, one thing that caught everyone's attention was the inclusion of corporal punishment as a deterrent to unruly behavior in all five handbooks. Actually, it was just a re-insertion; that form of discipline was a part of all schools in the district until two years ago.
"Two years ago, the (handbook) committee decided to take corporal punishment out," MSD Superintendent Sandra Lanehart said after the meeting. "We revisited that and, because of the law that you can't suspend or expel a K-5 student, we added it again. We rarely were in a position to have to do that anyway but for those young kids, we really don't have that many consequences.
"It was a policy in Monticello prior to two years ago and we're bringing it back because if young kids think it's a possibility, it's a detriment [sic] (to unruly behavior)."
Corporal punishment, or spanking, has been banned in 31 states but Arkansas, Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming still allow it in some form, according to The Washington Post.
In many places, parental permission is required -- and often given. It is more prevalent in Texas; least prevalent in Wyoming. The last state to abolish it was New Mexico, in 2011. The practice persists, according to The Post, because some educators and parents believe it helps modify disruptive behavior. It was pointed out in all five handbook presentations that corporal punishment in the MSD will be used only as a "very last resort," Lanehart and all four principals (from Monticello Elementary, Monticello Intermediate, Monticello Middle and Monticello High) were quick to point out.
"It's the same policy that was in the handbooks before," Lanehart noted. "It is only to be used when all other avenues of discipline have been exhausted."
In other business in the jam-packed session, [...]
Corpun file 26697 at www.corpun.com
Spectrum News, Austin, Texas, 27 July 2017
South Texas school district brings back corporal punishment
THREE RIVERS, Texas -- Parents registering students at Three Rivers ISD schools will have another question to answer this year -- will they or won't they allow their children to be spanked at school?
"Back when I was in school, we were punished with a paddle," said mom Diana Ferrell. She agreed with the district board of trustees, who recently and overwhelmingly voted for the return of the punishment. "When it was used properly the child learned from it."
But others are disappointed the district is reaching so far.
"The one that is supposed to spank the kid is the father and mother. Not the principal or whatever they call it. ... I went through that and it's real hard when somebody spanks you," said Gilbert Perez.
Last year, the former Department of Education Secretary took a stand against the practice, saying it can lead to aggressive behavior, depression and even PTSD.
Superintendent Mary Springs declined to comment on camera, but in a statement said administrators can only administer corporal punishment with written parental consent.
"If we did it, that's the punishment and we did it to ourselves," said student Blake Fudg.
Some Three Rivers students have already heard the news. For students like Joseph Garcia, the policy isn't new at all. It existed a few years ago at his old school. And, he says, a paddle wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
"It was kinda embarrassing. I shouldn't have done thing I did. I'm now doing better changes and doing my best to stay out of trouble," said Garcia.
Texas is one of 15 states that expressively permit corporal punishment. Seven other states don't have any laws for or against. The rest prohibit the practice.
RELATED VIDEO CLIP
Two-minute segment from Spectrum News TV in Austin (27 July 2017) of which the above report is a rough transcript. The most interesting part is where two teenage boys, students of Three Rivers ISD, are briefly interviewed. Both approve of the reintroduction of spanking at their school. Blake Fudg says "If we did it, that's the punishment and we did it to ourselves". His friend Joseph Garcia was paddled at his previous school and thinks it was beneficial, as he is now staying out of trouble.
HERE IS THE CLIP:
IMPORTANT: Copyright in this video material rests with the original copyright holders. This brief excerpt is reproduced under the "fair use" doctrine 
for private, non-profit, historical research and education purposes only. It must not be redistributed or republished in any commercial context.
Corpun file 26590 at www.corpun.com
newschannel6now.com (KAUZ-TV), Wichita Falls, Texas, 28 July 2017
Bellevue ISD still using corporal punishment to discipline their students
By Jesse Canales
Reporter
BELLEVUE, Tx (KAUZ) - Several Texas schools are bringing back paddling as a punishment. Corporal punishment is a hot topic that 27 states have banned. But not Texas.
In fact, one Texoma school district said it never went away. Bellevue Independent School District uses corporal punishment and said it is an effective punishment tool.
Parents have the choice to allow the school to physically punish their children or opt out by signing a "Parent Statement Concerning Corporal Punishment" form at the start of the school year.
"We try to get our kids to understand this is not me punishing you," Bellevue Schools Principal Michael Qualls said. "This is you serving a consequence for a choice you made."
Qualls gives out the consequence by swatting the students, one to two times, with a paddle in front of a witness. The witness is usually a school administrator like the Superintendent or a counselor.
"The last thing I want to do is show up and punish kids," Principal Qualls said. "That's not what principals and school administrators do."
But Qualls said corporal punishment is an effective tool and he does not swat the children unless the students and parents agree to it.
First, the children being punished decide if they want to be swatted, then the school officials call the parents who agreed to allow corporal punishment and ask them if they want the school to swat their children.
"My one son, he is kind of a bullhead and stubborn and I've received that call a couple of times," Shauna Debose said. "It always went well."
Debose said her son was in the fourth grade when he was first swatted.
"He would come home like he was shocked and asked 'do y'all know?' and we'd say 'yeah, we okayed it.'"
If the school or the parent decide against corporal punishment, then the school looks at other ways to punish the children using their discipline list.
Principal Qualls said parents can change their mind, when it comes to corporal punishment, anytime in the school year.
Copyright 2017 KAUZ All Rights Reserved
RELATED VIDEO CLIP
Two-minute news segment from TV station KAUZ in Wichita Falls TX (28 July 2017) of which the above text is a slightly abbreviated transcript. There isn't any actual news here: the peg on which the piece hangs is the fact that several Texas school districts had been resurrecting the paddle after a period of disuse, notably Three Rivers ISD which happened to get nationwide news coverage this same month, though it could equally well have been any one of numerous others. The reporter visits Bellevue ISD as an example of one of many Texas districts where CP never went away. The Superintendent stresses that the spanking is entirely voluntary in that the student him- or herself, as well as the parents, must have agreed to it. In his experience, it is an effective disciplinary tool. Also, the mother of a paddled student speaks approvingly of its beneficial effect on her son.
HERE IS THE CLIP:
IMPORTANT: Copyright in this video material rests with the original copyright holders. This brief excerpt is reproduced under the "fair use" doctrine for private, non-profit, historical research and education purposes only. It must not be redistributed or republished in any commercial context.
Corpun file 26615 at www.corpun.com
ktre.com (KTRE-TV/ABC9), Lufkin and Nacogdoches, Texas, 29 July 2017
Nacogdoches ISD votes against the use of corporal punishment
By Donna McCollum
Multi-Media Journalist
NACOGDOCHES, TX (KTRE) -- There will be no corporal punishment in Nacogdoches ISD.
That decision was made yesterday evening with a split vote of 3 to 2 by the district's school board.
"Getting rid of the policy all together just protects kids so much," said Michelle Peck, an opponent to corporal punishment. "It creates a safe and nurturing environment at Nacogdoches ISD and removes this threat that people have used to discipline kids in the past."
Here's how board members voted.
Board member Fashid Nirouma made the motion, with Pam Fitch placing the second. Their votes, along with James Montoya passed the measure to do away with corporal punishment.
Board members Steve Green and James Ervin voted against it. Two board members were not present to vote.
Next week Nacogdoches ISD staff will undergo instruction on the district's CHAMPS discipline policy.
Copyright 2017 KTRE. All rights reserved.
