Dr. William Allan Kritsonis, Professor, PhD Program in Educational Leadership, PVAMU, The Texas A&M University System. School Law, Corporal Punishment, Due Process, Freedom of Expression

1. Corporal Punishment in Public Schools: A Teacher’s Perspective William Allan Kritsonis, PhD Corporal Punishment in Public Schools

2. Corporal Punishment in Public Schools A Teacher’s Perspective

5. I think we can all agree that this is NOT the time to lay blame and point fingers, but to work TOGETHER to find solutions.

11. Ingraham v. Wright “ The Court ruled that corporal punishment of public school students, “did not require any formal due process measures, such as notice and a hearing and under no circumstances could be considered “cruel and unusual punishment” as that term is used in the Eighth Amendment. Thus, in effect, the Supreme Court (by a 5-4 margin) left the regulation of corporal punishment to state and local officials (Walsh, Kemerer, and Maniotis, p. 322).” Corporal Punishment Court Case

12. Corporal Punishment Court Case Cunningham v. Beavers Two kindergartners were caught “snickering” and were given swats with a wooden paddle by both the teacher and the principal. The paddling even left bruises on the two young girls, but the Fifth Circuit Court concluded there was no constitutional violation of either due process or equal protection and if there were a violation of law, it was a matter for the state courts, not the federal ones.

13. Corporal Punishment Court Case Fee v. Herndon In this situation, the parents “authorized” appropriate personnel to punish their emotionally disturbed child with three paddle swats; and even though these parents consented, they filed suit against the principal for this beating, claimed their child spent six months in a psychiatric hospital which costs them $90,000, and brought action against the special education teacher who allegedly failed to intervene in the spanking. The District Court for the Southern District of Texas, dismissed the case for failure to state a claim, and the parents appealed. The Court of Appeals dismissed the case as well and stated that: 1) Texas law afforded adequate post punishment civil and criminal remedies, and 2) Texas law did not impose upon the teacher a duty to intervene in the corporal punishment.