Children’s advocates in North Carolina are seeking a spanking ban on students with disabilities after losing political tussles over corporal punishment in public schools in recent years.
Equipped with a report showing corporal punishment was used more than 1,400 times in 26 districts last school year, speakers at a General Assembly education committee asked lawmakers last week to consider a paddling ban for children with physical, mental, or learning challenges when they reconvene in May.
In compiling its report, Action for Children contacted every school district in North Carolina and found 89 either ban corporal punishment outright or don’t use it. Fourteen districts banned the practice in the past three years, the report said. Of the remaining 26 districts, the number of times the punishment was administered during the last school year ranged from once in the Randolph County
