I didn't have time to read the article, but I would have no objection to a child's paddling provided that he wears a life jacket:
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.
You graduated from high school 15 years before me. If you had gone to my high school, you would have graduated with Farah Fawcett.
"I hate adults who hit kids"
Moonbat.
Excuse me?!?
Do you have a clue what you're saying here?
Think about it darlin'.
You hate people that spank their kids..
I've thought about it enough.
If this is private school, it's their rules. If it's public school, than that's not right.
If I was the kid, I would have either walked away and went home or attempt to knock him out if that going home wasn't an option. I might have won, or I might have lost, but I wasn't going to simply bend over and take one. I'm nobody's punching bag.
There is a difference between hitting and spanking. When you are old and feeble and have to depend on one of these little darlins you better hope you get one that was disciplined as a child.
Sounds like a whole trouble-making family.
I didn't say spank
I said beat...
I said beat like the boy we had admitted last week who was a mass of bruises.
I mean beat like my brother who doesn't remember a day prior to his 11th birthday.
I mean beat.
I mean ran down like an animal by a person 3 times your size with an out of control temper and a weapon in their hand that can leave effin' scars.
I mean beat like the 8 year old who put a belt around her neck and tried to hang herself because she effin' had enough.
I mean beat by someone who has control of your life, your food, your shelter and soul....
So my little moonbat, namecallin''friend'
READ MY LIPS>>>>>>>
I MEAN BEAT!
So, darlin,'
Sugar booger,
sweetie pie...
If you think 'beatin' a kid is OK,
I hate you too.
Bless your lil ole heart.
Read my post to the Moonbat sweetie.
I know the difference between discipline and insanity.
The problem is, I have seen and continue to see more of the insanity.
Lady, you said "hit". Not all that other rigamarole in your last post.
Hate all you want.
I apologize for getting my words crossed. To me, hit and beat are the same thing. I do hate adults who hit and beat kids (Not spank) there is a big, big difference.
Spanking, loving discipline, yeah...
Creating a decent adult for the future, yeah.
But if you can't tell the difference between teaching and harming...stay the hell away from children please.
I would guess most of us have been on the receiving end or witnessed abuse but getting a fire butt occasionally isn't going to hurt you.
I didn't have time to read the article, but I would have no objection to a child's paddling provided that he wears a life jacket:
I agree.
All I'm saying is that there are some folks who get out of control and cross a line and shouldn't be around children.
In my personal experience, brutalizing and beating has the opposite effect in the long run. Instead of respecting authority, you see it as the enemy.
It sounds like the boy in this story had been encouraged by his parents to be disruptive in school. However, I think spanking a boy that age is foolish. Suspension, if his behavior was bad enough, would be more likely to get his parents' attention.
My first post was in response to another poster's description of a sadist teacher.
I agree that a spanking at this point in time is a bit, well, pointless.
I understand.
I doubt it. Did you catch the part about the 'school resource officer (cop) who had to get involved the last time the father showed up? There was a reason the punk threatened the bus driver with a 'If you don't leave me alone, I'll get my daddy on this.' And that was the punk's side of the story, not the driver's.
My rules are that children should not be spanked if the parent isn't in control. Spanking in anger, or fear( and it's probably happened with most of us) is not teaching.
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