A Missouri school district will use spanking as a form of punishment in the 2022-2023 school year, according to the school handbook.
Cassville School District in Cassville, Missouri, is implementing a policy that uses spanking with a paddle as a form of punishment for students, according to the school handbook. Corporal punishment, or the use of physical force, will only be used to correct a K-12 student’s behavior when deemed necessary by the principal of the school. (RELATED: Texas School Board Approves Policy Requiring Educators To Use Students’ Gender At Birth, Removes CRT Books)
“It shall be used only when all other alternative means of discipline have failed, and then only in reasonable form and upon the recommendation of the principal,” the handbook reads. “Corporal punishment shall be administered only by swatting buttocks with a paddle.”
The new policy comes after parents said discipline at the school needed to be addressed in a survey following the 2021-2022 school year, according to Fox 2.
“The complaints that we have heard from some of our parents is that they don’t want their students suspended. They want another option,” Meryl Johnson, superintendent of Cassville School District, told the outlet. “And so, this was just another option that we could use before we get to that point of suspension.”
Students prepare to leave on a school bus from Westport High School on March 11, 2010 in Kansas City, Missouri. The High School is among 29 in a district of 61 schools that will close due to the new budget plan that is making the cuts to ward off bankruptcy. (Photo by G. Newman Lowrance/Getty Images)
A discipline grid in the handbook outlines when students can receive the punishment, including only after a five day bus suspension, third degree offense of disrespect and a third degree offense of in-class misconduct.
Parents can opt their child out of the punishment, and another certified administrator must be present when the punishment is given, Fox 2 reported.
Cassville School District and Johnson did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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