The Georgia School brings back paddlers to punish students – when parents give their consent

A school in Georgia that takes its students "very seriously" has instituted a policy of corporal punishment in which parents can consent to their child being hit with a paddle.

The Georgia School for Innovation and the Classics, in Hephzibah, recently sent consent forms to student homes, demanding that parents choose to use the "tool" from the "disciplinary toolbox" of l & # 39; school.

Commissioner Jody Boulineau said on the radio that the school "takes discipline very seriously" and that there was a period of history "where corporal punishment was the norm at the time. School and you did not have the problems you have ".

Parents of students from kindergarten to Grade 9 received a "Rowing Consent Form", which details the corporal punishment that would occur during the student's third offense.

"A pupil will be taken to an office in camera.The student will put his hands on his knees or his furniture and will be hit on the buttocks with a paddle," read the form.

"There is no obligation, it is not mandatory," Boulineau said. "A parent can either give consent for us to use this as a disciplinary measure, or refuse consent."

The director indicated that the school had received more than 100 consent forms, and that approximately one-third contained parental consent to paddle with their child as a form of discipline.

She said that she had heard a whole range of responses, "I've heard:" Great, it's high time "" to "Oh my God, I can not believe you're doing that. "

According to the report, if parents do not give their consent for their child to paddle, they will be suspended from school for five days.

Corporal punishment in schools is legal in Georgia and in public and private schools in 19 US states, according to the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children.