Georgia School Restores Paddle to Punish Pupils

A school in Hephzibah, Georgia, is attracting national attention after sending consent forms to parents to inform them of a new policy of using boating as a form of punishment for students, reports WRDW- TV.

The Georgian School of Innovation and Classics (GSIC), a charter school going from kindergarten to grade 9, brings back the paddle – spanking a child at the back with a wooden board – as a form of discipline. Superintendent Jody Boulineau told WRDW that about 100 parents had returned the forms and that a third party had given consent to the school to paddle with their child.

"In this school, we take discipline very seriously," said the superintendent. "There was a time when corporal punishment was the norm at school and you did not have the problems you have."

Boulineau said that parents can refuse to give permission to the school. The form sent home explained the steps the school would take to discipline children with a paddle. "A pupil will be taken to an office behind closed doors, the student will put his hands on his knees or his furniture and hit on the buttocks with a paddle," reads the form obtained by WRDW. Students will be paddled after their third offense. The form also states "no more than three licks must be given."

The palette will be 24 inches in length, six inches in width and 3/4 inches in thickness, the form says. Parents will be notified if their child needs to be paddled by an administrator, according to the form that CBS News has not independently verified.

"We can only use one more tool in our disciplinary toolbox," said Boulineau.

The Superintendent stated that the parents' response varied. "I've heard:" It's great, it's time, we're excited that this will happen again, they should never have come out of school. " "Oh my God, I can not believe you're doing that," he said.

Although boating is considered a controversial policy that has not been widely used in schools for years, it's legal in Georgia and in 19 other states.

Parents who give up the paddle must accept up to five days of suspension to punish their children. CISM is the only school in the August region that will begin paddling students who behave badly this year.

Boulineau, as well as other directors and board members, did not respond to CBS News' request for comment.