One Georgia school - the Georgia School for Innovation and the Classics is a K-9 charter school in Hephzibah, GA - is reintroducing paddling into its curriculum. Parents have to sign off on it, and if a kid screws up three times, they can be paddled (there will be another adult present to witness it).
\n\nAfter each infraction, parents are notified of what happened. On the third infraction, the parents are called before the paddling takes place. The children will put their hands on a piece of furniture or their knees and will be hit no more than three times.
\n\nThe form says the punishment must occur in the “presence of an adult witness." If parents don't want their children to be paddled, they must agree to a five-day suspension.
\n\nThere is a specific paddle size that they plan on using (two feet long).
\n\nParenting expert, Dr. Deborah Gilboa told TODAY, "Corporal punishment may affect adversely a student's self-image and school achievement and that it may contribute to disruptive and violent student behavior.
\n\nAlternative methods of behavioral management have proved more effective than corporal punishment. After being paddled or spanked, students often stop acting badly for a few days afterward because they are afraid. But it doesn’t help them understand how to behave."
\n\nOut of the school's 635 students, only 100 returned permission slips. 30% of that 100 agreed to the policy.
\n\n“There was a time where corporal punishment was kind of the norm in school and you didn’t have the problems that you have,” Superintendent Jody Boulineau told WRDW/WAGT.
\n\nWould you let a school paddle your kid?
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