FILE: JDA
CORPORAL PUNISHMENT
Teachers and principals are authorized to use reasonable corporal punishment against any pupil for good cause in order to maintain discipline and order within the schools, with the exception of the Calcasieu Parish Schools Headstart centers. Headstart guidelines prohibit teachers and administrators from engaging in corporal punishment, emotional or physical abuse or humiliation.
Therefore, the Calcasieu Parish School board hereby authorizes its teachers and prinicpals 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:
Corporal punishment shall be administered in a reasonable, fair, and impartial manner. Abuse or misuse of corporal punishment by the teacher or principal, especially the act of being malicious, with willful and deliberate intent to cause bodily harm, shall not be tolerated.
Corporal punishment shall not be used unless the student was forewarned that a specific behavior could cause its use.
Prior to the administering of corporal punishment, the student shall be given an opportunity to explain his or her version of the facts.
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.
Corporal punishment shall be administered to the posterior anatomy (buttocks) in the area below the waist and above the thighs for a maximum of three (3) times.
Corporal punishment shall be used only after other means of solving discipline problems have been explored and failed.
The procedures specified in regulations 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.
Teachers and principals shall keep written records of misconduct wherein corporal punishment is administered.
This record shall be placed on file in the principal's office the day such punishment occurs.
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.
The principal of each school shall have the authority and the responsibility of holding every member of his/her staff accountable for understanding and administering corporal punishment as set forth by these regulations.
For purposes of clarity, corporal punishment, as described herein, shall be defined as, and 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.
IMPERMISSIBLE CORPORAL PUNISHMENT
In instances where allegations of abuse of a student are reported against an employee, principal or other school official, through the administering of impermissible corporal punishment or any other moral offense, the Superintendent shall promptly investigate the action.
Revised: January, 2010
Ref: U.S. Constitution, Amend. XIII
U.S. Constitution, Amend. XIV, Sec. 1
La. Rev. Stat. Ann. ยงยง17:81.6, 17:223, 17:235.1, 17:416, 17:416.1
Ingraham v. Wright, 97 S. Ct. 1401, (1977)
Baker v. Owen, 96 S. Ct. 210 affirming 395 F. Supp. 294 (M.D.N.C., 1975)
Thompson v. Iberville Parish Sch. Bd., App. 1 Cir. 1979, 372 So. 2d 642, 374 So. 2d 650
Board minutes, 1-12-10
Calcasieu Parish School Board