Does Louisiana want to be known as a state that supports abusing children? Currently, in the state of Louisiana, juveniles and prisoners cannot be struck by authorities but that's not the case for the state's K-12 students. The state has 69 school districts that currently are allowed to regulate themselves on whether or not a child can be paddled.

A renewed effort to ban paddling in the state of Louisiana's grades K-12 was passed without objection from the House Education Committee on Wednesday. Last year a bill failed (falling 5 votes short) in the House that would protect students in K-12 from being spanked or other forms of corporal punishment.

According to The Advocate, the executive director of the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents claims at least 19 school systems in the state still allow paddling. Of the 46 school systems that responded to a survey, 19 still allow "paddling and other forms of punishment and 27 ban it."

More and more school systems are discouraging the use of corporal punishment as a means of discipline. -Mike Faulk

One State Representative tried to explain to the committee how one school district in Louisiana currently allows a student to get paddled with a witness present. This is so the witness can hold the child's hands as the human instinct is to protect the body from the paddle.

Nineteen states currently allow corporal punishment in public schools. These states are Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming.

 

(National Library of Medicine, The Advocate)

You Know You're From Louisiana

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