Friday, March 16, 2007

Ban On Paddling In Schools

Legislators, school officials and child advocates held a press conference on Wednesday to call for a ban on corporal punishment (House Bill 853) in all public schools, which they said would improve, not hurt, school discipline. North Carolina is one of 21 states that allow corporal punishment, though many of those states let local school districts set policies against it. Across our state, 48 school districts already ban corporal punishment, while 67 - or 58 percent - allow it, according to a survey by the School of Social Work at UNC-Chapel Hill. However, the survey found that in many of those districts where it is allowed, students are paddled infrequently or not at all. In 15 districts where it is permitted, no instances were reported during the survey period.

Seven districts have banned corporal punishment within the past half-dozen years, the UNC report said. They included Avery County, which abolished the practice about six years ago, and Hertford County, which ended it last spring.

No comments: