Scott City paddling within guidelines, school board says

~ The student's parent had filed a complaint alleging child abuse.

A Scott City school administrator's paddling of a student on Nov. 11 followed school policy, Scott City school board members determined in a closed meeting Wednesday.

The school corporal punishment policy was followed and the school board concluded the allegation of child abuse was unsubstantiated, according to the summary of the meeting provided by superintendent Diann Bradshaw on Friday.

The student's parent had filed a complaint against the principal alleging child abuse. Bradshaw said corporal punishment is used as a disciplinary measure from time to time. "If a student has problems, we try to deal with them in several different ways. Before we issue corporal punishment we follow the policy."

In Missouri, each local board of education establishes its own discipline policy, including the use of corporal punishment. The statute enabling the use of corporal punishment states that spanking administered by certified school district personnel is not considered child abuse.

Policies at Jackson and Cape Girardeau and public schools provide for corporal punishment, but officials said it is not used.

"We have it in the policy, but we do not permit it to happen," Jackson superintendent Dr. Ron Anderson said.

In Cape Girardeau schools, the policy permits between one and four swats with a paddle. At least one certified employee must witness the paddling. But superintendent Dr. David Scala, who joined the school system last summer, said he is not aware of corporal punishment being used in any of the district's schools.

Central Junior High school principal Lee Gattis said he has not administered any corporal punishment in the past 10 years.

"I haven't done it in 31 years, and I don't plan to start now," Central High School principal Dr. Mike Cowan said.

Notre Dame Regional High School does not have a corporal punishment policy and does not allow corporal punishment. The school uses other measures, such as detentions, instead of corporal punishment. At Eagle Ridge Christian School, if a parent asks administrators to paddle their child that gives them the OK, but it's not something they do as a rule, said Michelle Hahn, spokeswoman for the school. She also said she has never seen a student paddled at the school except by a parent.

Saxony Lutheran principal Craig Ernstmeyer was not available for comment.

In Scott City schools, corporal punishment consists of swatting a student's buttocks with a paddle and must be done in a way so no bodily harm comes to the child, according to the board's policy. It is permitted as "a measure of correction or maintaining discipline and order in schools. However, it shall be used only when all other alternative means of discipline have failed."

Twenty-two states allow corporal punishment of students, including Missouri. In the most recent statistics available, the 1999-2000 school year, Missouri ranked ninth in the number of students paddled. During that year 9,223 students were paddled in Missouri schools.

Approximately a third of all Missouri school districts ban corporal punishment, according to the Center for Family Policy and Research in Columbia. Those districts account for about two-thirds of all Missouri public school students.

This year, state Rep. Barbara Fraser, D-St. Louis County, introduced a bill that would prohibit public school districts from administering any corporal punishment. The bill died in committee. Fraser also tried in 2003 and 2004 to win a ban on corporal punishment and failed each time.

ameyer@semissourian.com

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