BEAT YOUR CHILDREN WELL
Sounds like the fun was a-poppin' at the Hillsborough County School Board last night:
Some Hillsborough County School Board members want to bring back spanking to punish ``the brats.''
Both the state and district allow corporal punishment. Hillsborough has given principals the authority to discipline students by hitting them on their behinds with a wooden paddle, but as far as anyone knows, principals haven't done so for more than a decade, said school officials said.
A couple of Hillsborough principals even ended up on the state registry of child abusers in the past for their actions, said board member Glenn Barrington, who sparked the discussion at a Tuesday workshop meeting Tuesday that tackled discipline issues.
As board members expressed frustration at a lack of consequences for misbehaving students, Barrington recalled his days as a teacher and administrator when he could ``slam 'em up against the wall and counsel them.''
Board member Jennifer Faliero quickly took up the cause for harsher measures for such students, saying, ``Most of them are just brats.''
They will continue misbehaving "until we slam 'em against the wall and put the fear of God into them,'' she said, picking up Barrington's cue.
"We can't do either,'' board member Doris Ross Reddick chimed in, as Faliero said she wasn't serious about the "slamming against the wall'' reference.
"We can paddle them,'' Faliero said. "We have not done that.'' The reason, she said, is because "somebody's afraid of being sued.''
Superintendent Earl Lennard sat silently, looking shocked as Faliero tried unsuccessfully to get a board consensus to encourage principals to use corporal punishment.
Faliero prompted one of the district's hearing officers, Harold Clark, for his opinion, as because he presides over expulsion hearings.
"I believe in spanking,'' Clark said, noting that it is "a way of getting the parents' attention.'' It seems to work best for younger students, he said.
I love how the schools have spent the past 20 years teaching conflict resolution and eliminating weapons and violence in schools and telling them to treat each other with respect before taking a moment to deliver the caveat, "Well, except when we're delivering the ass-jacking."
I think they should test this brilliant theory by beating the crap out of the board members who support paddling. Just so they can see how it feels.