'We Take Discipline Very Seriously'
A charter school in Georgia sent out consent forms to parents informing them about a corporal punishment that would allow the school to paddle students.
Jody Boulineau, superintendent of Georgia School for Innovation and the Classics (GSCI), told WRDW on Thursday that the charter school in Hephzibah, Georgia, planned to bring back paddling as an option to discipline its students.
"In this school, we take discipline very seriously," said Boulineau. "There was a time where corporal punishment was kind of the norm in school, and you didn't have the problems that you have."
Paddling is when someone is hit with wooden a paddle as punishment. Boulineau told the news station that if a student is to be disciplined, the parents would be given a "consent to paddle form" that will give administrators permission to hit their child with the wooden paddle. She told WRDW that this was "just one more tool that we have in our disciplinary toolbox that we can use."
"There's no obligation, it's not required. A parent can either give consent for us to use that as a disciplinary measure, or they can deny consent," Boulineau told the news station.
The form, which was obtained by WRDW, read: "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 choose not to have their child participate in the paddle punishment, the student could be suspended for five days instead, WRDW reported. GSCI is the only school in the area of Hephzibah that has chosen to discipline students by paddling.
Newsweek reached out to Boulineau for further comment on the policy but did not hear back in time for publication.
There are currently 19 schools in the U.S. where it is legal to use corporal punishment, according to the National Institute of Health.
Some students were paddled as punishment at a school district in Greenbrier, Arkansas, after participating in National Walkout Day back in March, Arkansas Matters reported. Students from schools in the White Hall school district were punished for breaking school rules for leaving class, and were given the option of two days' suspension or paddling, the publication reported. The walkout was meant to honor the 17 people who were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and to call on politicians to end gun violence in schools.
Paddling at colleges and universities has also been reported. In February, a University of Pittsburgh sorority was suspended after 12 women believed to be Alpha Kappa Alpha pledges told police that someone allegedly used paddles to beat them on two occasions at a home off campus.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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