RALEIGHLocal opponents of the use of corporal punishment in the Public Schools of Robeson County, unable to get satisfaction on Tuesday, are taking their fight to Raleigh.

Advocates for a Better Education will now seek legislative action from the North Carolina General Assembly to abolish the practice before the start of the 2018-19 school year, but the body’s calendar might not allow that. The local system is one of only two in North Carolina that still allows spanking.

Rep. Charles Graham, a Democrat from Lumberton, said he was contacted by the group Thursday, and he is in favor of ending paddling in the schools. On Tuesday, the county school board referred the matter to its Policy Committee after considerable discussion. It’s unclear when action will come, or if it will.

Opponents thought they had enough votes going into the Tuesday school board meeting to get a favorable vote, but that did not happen.

“As an educator and professional, I am not in favor of corporal punishment,” Graham said. “There are other ways that student behavior can be managed through behavior management programs.

“I was raised in the old school. But this is the 21st century.”

Graham’s options are limited because his first opportunity to submit a bill would be in early 2019 during the legislature’s long session. However, he prefers not to submit a bill.

“I don’t want to overstep into the school board’s business,” he said. “I hope they work this out before then.”

Jessica Lowry Clark, who is a member of Advocates for a Better Education, said she is disappointed but not defeated by the school board’s decision.

“We’re not finished,” she said. “There was no timetable set for the Policy Committee.”

Superintendent Shanita Wooten is leading an effort to comprehensively rewrite school policies that would include student conduct. She recommended that corporal punishment be addressed when that is done.

School board member Brenda Fairley-Ferebee worked with the advocacy group to draft a bill that is on Graham’s desk. The issue was reported in statewide media.

“We’re getting a lot of traction statewide,” Clark said. “I am getting a lot of positive comments.”

With the positive comments has come push-back from the community.

“This has not been an easy journey,” she said. “There is a lot of negativity out there.”

Graham agrees there are proponents of paddling in Robeson County, but his gut feeling is they are outnumbered.

“There is a lot of research about the negative effects of corporal punishment,” he said. “From the mental health side where I come from, corporal punishment can adversely affect children in many ways.”

Graham is the only other county that allows corporal punishment, but it is not used there with the same frequency of Robeson County.

Most of Robeson’s 42 schools don’t use corporal punishment, which can only be administered with the advance permission of a parent or guardian. It’s use is generally determined by the school principal.

Corporal punishment is on the decline in North Carolina, and in Robeson County. Paddlings statewide fell from 147 in 2014-15 to about 70 in 2015-16. In the 2008-09 school year, 679 paddlings were administered.

More than 90 percent of the paddlings handed out in 2014-15 in North Carolina occurred in Robeson County. According to the Department of Public Instruction, Prospect accounted for 80 percent of corporal punishment cases in the state during the 2014-15 school year.

Opponents of spanking say that minority children and children with disabilities are disproportionately targeted.

Graham
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Scott Bigelow

Staff writer

Staff writer Scott Bigelow can be reached at 910-644-4497 or [email protected].