Bill would ban spanking at school

BATON ROUGE – The House Education Committee approved 6-5 and sent to the full House floor for debate a measure banning all corporal punishment of children in public schools, one of two school punishment bills on the committee’s agenda Wednesday.
Under current law, school boards determine their policy on the issue and are required to establish regulations to control its use. However, parents can file paperwork preventing a school from physically disciplining their child.
Shreveport Rep. Barbara Norton, D-Shreveport, author of House Bill 497, says research indicates corporal punishment does not help students learn or deter bad behavior.
“The same students that were paddled last year are the ones being paddled this year,” she said noting the state didn’t keep records on corporal punishment until she requested a study in 2010.
Beekman Charter School Principal Roy McCoy told the committee that “you catch more flies with honey than vinegar,” but argued the current law provides more local control.
In their opposition to the legislation, some committee members suggested the state ought not interfere with child rearing.
“This is as local as it gets, but many parents gloss over the paperwork at the beginning of the year, so [current law] is ineffective,” McCoy said.
“Teachers cannot teach and raise a child at the same time,” Norton countered.
Additionally, the committee moved a bill to the House floor that prohibits the corporal punishment of schoolchildren with disabilities. That also passed without opposition.
House Bill 79 applies to children who have been evaluated according to the legal definition of “exceptionality,” which includes disabilities like autism, blindness and emotional disturbance.
The bill’s author, Rep. Franklin Foil, D-Baton Rouge, referred to a Louisiana Department of Health study that suggests children with disabilities are physically punished at a higher rate than other children.
“I was surprised this wasn’t already a law when the governor came to me with this bill.” Foil said. “It seems like common sense.”
That sentiment was shared by Allison Badgerow, whose son is on the autism spectrum and was corporally punished in a Louisiana school.
“Until this happened to my son, I didn’t know corporal punishment was still used,” Badgerow said. “Instead of relaying their expectations to my son visually, which is what he responds best to, they restrained him and caused a setback in his learning for over 18 months.”
After moving her child to a different school district, Badgerow says her son began to excel in learning.
“He only knew the four letters (of the alphabet found) in his name. Within three weeks of attending the new school, he learned the other 22 and their sounds,” she said. “This bill protects people who don’t comprehend as well as I do. It gives them a safe environment to learn.”