Posted on 10/28/2005 4:53:52 PM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
A Unionville mother and father are complaining about the paddling of their 14-year-old son, allegedly by Community High School's assistant principal, and they've taken their concerns to the superintendent of schools, the sheriff's department and have released their boy's medical records showing bruises and swelling at his tailbone. "Diagnosis: Child Abuse," is a notation in the physician's notes. Community High School Principal Robert Ralston declined comment and deferred questions to Bedford County Schools' Central Office where Superintendent Ed Gray said he's in the middle with responsibilities to protect students' as well as employees' rights. To avoid duplication of efforts, Gray said Bedford County Sheriff Clay Parker and/or his detectives would be investigating the allegations.
Samuel Manus suffered a "knot and bruise on [his] lower spine," which showed "swelling due to excessive force ... punishment with a wooden paddle," according to Dr. Corbi D. Milligan, a physician in Smyrna who examined the eighth grader on Monday. The paddling on Wednesday last week, Oct. 19, was a result of an incident on a school bus Oct. 18. The boy didn't tell his parents, Freddy and Tracy Manus of Virgil Crowell Road, until Sunday, Oct. 23, "because he had a run-in with Mr. Williams last year," Freddy Manus said. The father says he was escorted at that time from Community School by a school resource officer and that on the way out, Assistant Principal Keith Williams told him "'I call the shots. You don't.'"
The distinction seems important because of an apparent difference in paddling policies between Community High School and Community Elementary School, as interpreted by Tracy Manus, who points to Student Handbooks. Parents are asked if they'll give permission to paddle elementary schoolers, but the high school student handbook doesn't have such a reference. Regardless, Freddy Manus says his son, Samuel, didn't deserve a paddling that resulted in such injury. He took Samuel to Dr. Milligan on Monday afternoon after he and Samuel visited the superintendent that morning.
"After listening to their explanation of the incident, I advised the parent that he could file a complaint with the school system, file a complaint with the sheriff's office or make a report to the Department of Children's Services. He took a copy of the school system complaint form," Gray said in a prepared statement. "The father returned to my office and related that he had chosen to file with the sheriff's office. I explained to him that the school system would cooperate with the law enforcement investigation."
Ralston said: "Community High School has been made aware of a complaint being issued regarding our staff. It is our policy not to comment on student matters except with their parents or appropriate authorities. Any further questions can to be directed to our central office." Samuel Manus said he was paddled by Williams who used a paddle with a face approximately 4-inches wide and perhaps a foot long. He had to bend over with his hands on a bench for the paddling which was observed by Ralston, the student said. His doctor said she'd not seen such injury from paddling before.
"It hit the lower part of the spine," Milligan said. "Most times when kids are spanked, they're hit on the buttock," she said. "He would not have had bruising had he been hit on the buttock. "The American Academy of Pediatrics' policy on corporal punishment is ... it's not an appropriate form of punishment at any age," the pediatrician said. "I understand there are cultural differences, but there have to be boundaries," she said. "If marks are left, then the punishment is excessive." What led to the paddling is described by the Manus family: Samuel was seated on a county school bus with a friend. They were going to his house after school on the other boy's normal bus ride. Samuel had a foot in the aisle of the bus, an infraction of rules on that bus. Freddy Manus sees merit to the rule but only if a passenger is trying to trip another. Because of the infraction, the bus was stopped and Samuel Manus was told to sit behind the driver. The boy told the Times-Gazette that he told the driver, "'If you don't leave me alone, I'll get my daddy on this.'
"He said, 'Shut up,'" Samuel Manus reported.
Freddy and Tracy Manus concede their son has been paddled before. The three "licks" he got last week brought his total to five, having had two administered during one previous "butt whuppin'," the parents said. Freddy Manus said Thursday he's taken medical records to the Bedford County Sheriff's Department that afternoon, having left them for Detective Chris Brown. The father and detective had spoken earlier. A call to the Sheriff's Department resulted in no contact with Brown or Parker. It was not totally clear whether the department would proceed toward an arrest warrant or whether the information gathered would be presented to the grand jury for the potential issuance of an original indictment. Meanwhile, the Associated Press has reported that a new state law requires anyone who suspects a child has been abused to report the case directly to the Department of Children's Services, or face a $2,500 fine. The law is expected to have the greatest impact on teachers, day care workers, nurses, and institutions dealing with children. Another state law says teachers and principals may use corporal punishment in a reasonable manner against any pupil for good cause to maintain discipline and order in the public schools.
Another section says teachers can hold students accountable for disorderly conduct on campus and the school bus. However, boards of education shall adopt rules as deemed necessary to implement and control any form of corporal punishment. Gray says there is no system-wide policy. Some schools follow the state law. Others have their own policies. The discrepancy has been approached, but not resolved by the school board.
Rank hypocrisy. You are so opposed to someone spanking or paddling (didn't even use the word "beat(ing") your child that you would RIP THEIR ARM OFF. Now, that's really consistent.
I find your obsession with paddling children quite perverse. If you believe that some random person can paddle your child, then you shouldn't have children or ever be around children.
I am not against parents punishing their children, I'm against random people punishing the children without the parent's approval.
If this incident occured in Illinois, the principal would be in jail and would never be allowed children again.
If the parents want to paddle their child, it should be up to them.
However, I would sue a school if they ever touched one of my children. I don't trust the schools.
They can suspend a kid. If the child is misbehaving bad enough, then call the police.
From reading further posts from MeneMeneTekelUpharsin I am utterly stunned. When he said that he prefers "caning" I think that speaks for itself. While I won't go and claim that someone is an abusive individual, the posts are clearly disturbing.
Oops, They should be They're.
You are not the person to decide that. Not now. Not ever. Individuals like you and the vermin in Illinois who elected officials who would make such decisions are the reason we're having so many problems. It's nearly time...
As if the state of Illinois is a model for the nation. With the level of corruption that has been endemic in Illinois, I wouldn't even comment if I were from there. Who are YOU (if from Illinois) to tell ANYONE from anywhere else how to do things? Don't bother replying. I don't have time to waste with you.
And then, not even knowing me nor the individual involved in the Unionville paddling incident, you try to impune my character. You're bordering on instability to even argue such a thing without credible information. Just because you disagree with me, suddenly you think (or imply) that I have problems. Don't reply to this one either.
Corporal punishment doesn't have to be physically painful to be effective. The act itself, without excessive force, is demeaning to the child -- as it should be if the kid was way out of line.
Don't inject truth into this discussion.
I'll take Illinois anyday over the backward hillbilly place you are from. If I were from Texas I would be insulted to live in the same state as you. As Texans are generally not psychotic absuers. Go back to beating people, obviously it is the only think fueling your self-esteem.
Maybe so, but there is a difference. The person whose arm I'd rip off would at least have a chance of defending themselves, something that a small child is incapable of doing with a teacher.
Speaking of hypocracy, the condition of public schools (in general) is horrifying, and FR has threads all the time concerning the cruelty, stupidity, and lack of morals of some public school teachers and employees.
And yet, folks on this thread seem to think those very people are the ones who need to decide when their child needs a good paddling, and who'll administer it.
No thanks, Nanny-state Liberal. I can determine when and how my son needs that kind of discipline without you performing my parental duties for me. If you're having a problem, then let me know and I'll handle it.
It doesn't take a village.
Thank you. In a few words you have summed up what I've tried to convey. Very effective.
I wholeheartedly agree it doesn't take a village. And, the condition many schools are in would warrant your position. It just doesn't apply in my school nor in my classroom. All of us are not evil liberals. You do have some valid points and you at least present them with some decorum. Have a nice day.
Mr Fred Capps was Dean of Men, at New Hanover High School while I attended. He wielded the "board of education", whenver it was deemed necessary. It was about three feet long, with holes drilled, for better effect!
I was not one so blessed, but I know many who were. They remembered, due to the embarrassment, if nothing else... and their dads repeated the act, in many cases.
I know well how it felt to be unjustly and severely punished by a grade school teacher. I'll never forget my experience and I was only in second grade. Our teacher had us all sit on the floor in front of her while she showed us pictures of very old automobiles. At one point she asked us how much we thought one particularly old car would cost. I raised my hand and she called on me. I remember saying, "a hundred dollars". Remember, to a second-grader a hundred dollars seemed like ALOT of money. Well, she apparently thought I was being silly or something. She got up, yanked me off the floor, and dragged me to the "cooler". In the old school house we went to, there was a walk-in refrigeration unit where they kept the crates of milk cartons, and the door to it was right in our classroom.
She threw me in there and told me I would have to stay there until I learned the value of money, or old cars....can't remember which one, but she sure wanted me to learn about it. I don't know if my parents ever knew about it because I sure don't recall telling them. I would have been too frightened for fear I'd get in trouble at home for getting in trouble at school. Ah, the old days, when fear lived in our hearts and souls.
Child's Family Upsets Paddler
To each his own, I suppose.
Update on the paddling story. All of the hotheads in opposition are going to find the child AND parents made up the story about the child being injured by the paddling. As I posted previously, Williams in the presence of a witness appropriately paddled that boy. If he hurt his tailbone, he hurt it somewhere else and tried to blame it on Williams. That is going to be the outcome. If so, the boy should be severely punished and permanently removed from school and his parents put in prison.
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