19 States Still Allow Spanking In Schools, Some Without Parental Consent

We often hear public outrage over the use of spanking in public to calm down an out of control child but that doesn’t mean the practice has gone extinct, in fact 19 states still permit teachers and principles to use spanking as a form of punishment.

According to NPR the Florida school system in 2010 spanked more than 3,600 children by using wooden and fiberglass paddles. According to that report most of the spankings occurred in a rural district in the northern part of the state.

In one case a lawsuit has been filed because a mother refused to sign a waiver that would allow her 5-year-old to be spanked yet school officials still used the paddle without the mothers consent.

According to an attorney examining the case Florida law does not require parental consent.

Adding insult to injury at Homes County High school kids learn to make the spanking paddles in wood-shop class and then if they don’t follow the rules there’s a good chance the paddle they made gets used against them.

So what type of major offenses lead to spankings at those schools? According to one student:

“Throwing papers, throwing pencils, a couple times for cussing and then back-talking.”

Essentially the teaching staff is left to determine which offenses warrant spanking.

Do you think schools should be able to spank a child without a parents consent? Especially in a day and age when parents have been arrested or even have had children removed from the home because they were witnessed spanking them in public?