Student spanking: Texas school district broadens policy governing corporal punishment
When high school sophomore Taylor Santos was given the choice between one more day of in-school suspension or a spanking, she chose the later. Her vice principal acquiesced and Taylor returned home after school, bruised and blistered.
While many parents may object to a school administrator opening spanking a student, the problem at hand was not that Taylor was spanked, but because a male staff member administered the punishment. At Springtown High School, the rule is spanking is allowed as long as the administrator doling out the punishment is the same sex as the student.
The incident became national news when Taylor’s mother, Anna Jorgensen, called the school to complain. Yet, though the rule was broken, Jorgensen’s concerns were quickly dismissed. Instead, Superintendent Mike Kelley asked the school board to throw out the rule in favor of a much broader policy that doesn’t discriminate based on sex. So male staff members can spank both male and female students.
The school board, finding Kelley’s argument that there are not enough female administrators to carry out punishments on male students compelling, voted in favor of the proposal. Now, under the new policy, a student spanking may be administered by any school official, as long as a staff member who has the same gender of the student is present as a witness.
Although 31 states have banned spanking in school, Texas law permits schools to administer the “corporal punishment” — unless a parent prohibits such punishment in writing. State Representative Alma Allen, a democrat from Houston, attempted to pass a bill to outlaw to behavior to no avail. An estimated 75 percent of Texas school districts currently administering spankings, according to the Associated Press.
Watch the video below to learn more about the circumstances leading to Taylor’s extreme punishment.
