LUMBERTON, NC (WBTW) – The Robeson County School Board voted Tuesday night to overturn its policy on enforcing corporal punishment.
District spokesperson Tasha Oxendine says the decision was made with a vote of 6-5.
There are 115 school districts in North Carolina, and prior to the vote, Robeson County and Graham public schools were the only two school districts that had not banned corporal punishment in the classroom.
Parents were required to fill out a form stating they do not want their child physically disciplined by teachers at school if they did not support the disciplinary action.
In an April board meeting, six people asked the school board to ban corporal punishment, while one person asked the board to keep the policy.
“We’ve had it for a long time, and I think it needs to stay in the school,” said one parent. “If the teachers don’t have control of the kids, then they don’t have control of the classroom at all.”
With five board members voting to keep the policy, it seems district leaders were in some agreeance with the parent.
Parents opposed to the tactic said they were worried about the children’s exposure to violence.
District policy said, “corporal punishment should be regarded as a last resort and should be employed only in cases in which other methods of securing cooperation from the student have failed.” Now the method will not be used at all.
