FILE:  JDA

Cf:  GAMC

 

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT

 

 

Every teacher is authorized to hold every student to a strict accountability for any disorderly conduct in school or on the playground of the school, or on any school bus going to or returning from school, or during intermission or recess.

 

The Concordia Parish School Board recognizes that good order and discipline within the schools are essential if teaching and learning are to be effective.  The School Board has been charged to hold each student to a strict accountability for any disorderly conduct in school or on the playgrounds of the school, on the street or road while going to or returning from school, or during intermission or recess.  State law authorizes school principals to suspend from school any student who is guilty of disorderly conduct.  In addition, the school system is authorized to use reasonable corporal punishment against any student for good cause in order to maintain discipline and order within the schools.

 

Corporal punishment means using physical force to discipline a student, with or without an object.  Corporal punishment includes hitting, paddling, striking, spanking, slapping, or any other physical force that causes pain or physical discomfort.

 

Corporal punishment does not include:

 

  1. The use of reasonable and necessary physical restraint of a student to protect the student, or others, from bodily harm or to obtain possession of a weapon or other dangerous object from a student.

  2. The use of seclusion and restraint as provided in La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §17:416.21.

 

No form of corporal punishment shall be administered to a student with an exceptionality, excluding gifted and talented, as defined in La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §17:1942 or to a student who has been determined to be eligible for services under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and has an Individual Accommodation Plan.

 

The Concordia Parish School Board hereby authorizes principals or their designees to employ, when necessary, corporal punishment in a reasonable manner to maintain discipline and order in the schools or at all school-sponsored activities, subject to the following regulations:

 

  1. Corporal punishment shall be administered in a reasonable, fair, and impartial manner.  Abuse or misuse of corporal punishment, especially the act of being malicious, with willful and deliberate intent to cause bodily harm, shall not be tolerated.

  2. Corporal punishment shall be used only after other means of solving discipline problems have been explored and failed.

  3. Corporal punishment shall not be used unless the student was forewarned that a specific behavior could cause its use.

  4. Prior to the administering of corporal punishment, the student shall be given an opportunity to explain his or her version of the facts.

  5. Corporal punishment can only be administered in the company of a professional staff member who has been informed beforehand and in the student's presence of the reason for the punishment.

  6. The guidelines specified in regulations 2, 3, 4, and 5 above do not apply in those cases where the student's behavior is so blatant, disruptive, antisocial, or flagrant in nature as to shock the conscience.

  7. School principals, assistant principals or appropriate designees who have adminis­tered corporal punishment shall provide the child's parents or legal guardians, upon request, a written explanation of the reasons and the name of the school employee who was present as a witness.  For each incident of corporal punishment, a Corporal Punishment Incidence Checklist shall be completed and maintained in the administrative offices of the school.

  8. If the parents so request, the principal of the school where the punishment was administered must furnish a copy of the written report of corporal punishment.

 

Corporal punishment shall be limited to the administering of physical punishment by means of paddling or spanking the buttocks.  Consideration must be given to the age, size, emotional condition, and health of the students.  When physical punishment is administered there is always the possibility of physical injury and subsequent legal ramifications.  Therefore, extreme caution should be employed when administering corporal punishment.

 

However, nothing contained herein shall be interpreted as prohibiting an employee from using physical force, reasonable and appropriate under the circumstances, in defending himself against a physical attack by a student or to restrain a student from attacking another student or employee, or to prevent acts of misconduct which are so anti-social or disruptive in nature as to shock the conscience.

 

IMPERMISSIBLE CORPORAL PUNISHMENT

 

Corporal punishment administered other than as outlined hereinabove shall be deemed and defined to be impermissible corporal punishment.  Any accusations involving employees using impermissible corporal punishment shall be promptly investigated, in accordance with provisions of policy GAMC, Investigations.

 

Revised:  November 9, 2017

 

 

Ref:    U.S. Constitution, Amend. XIII

U.S. Constitution, Amend. XIV, Sec. 1

La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§17:81.6, 17:223, 17:416, 17:416.1

Baker v. Owen, 96 S. Ct. 210 affirming 395 F. Supp. 294 (M.D.N.C., 1975)

Ingraham v. Wright, 97 S. Ct. 1401, (1977)

Board minutes, 11-9-17

 

Concordia Parish School Board