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WRITING CONTEST
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Ban Corporal Punishment
In Our Schools
By Mariah Boone
Our daughter just started first grade as well as her public school
career. During the first six weeks of this experience, my husband and I
have had the most homework, filling out the copious amount of papers that
are sent home: school and district policies, emergency cards, PTA sign-up
sheets and the like. During the first week, the school handbook which
listed all of the disciplinary methods used for all the minute offenses a
child might dare to commit (you know: moving, talking, turning pages in a
book) was sent home. We signed off on it and sent it back. Also sent home
was the district handbook, with the broader, district level policies for
similar things. In its list of disciplinary practices was included corporal
punishment.
Now, my day job involves connecting some of our city's most
behaviorally problematic kids to social services and I have heard all manner
of complaints about just about every marginally bad thing the schools may
ever have done from the mouths of these children and
their parents. Not once have they mentioned being struck at school (I mean,
by staff) and they would mention this if it were going on there. I am,
therefore, relatively certain that the district no longer actually engages
in corporal punishment in practice. Still, I found myself unable to sign
off on such a barbaric practice in policy so my husband and I attached a
sheet to our acknowledgement form informing the district that we did not
consent to the use of corporal punishment on our child and that we hoped the
district would, in accordance with best practices, remove this outdated
practice from its future policy statements.
I feel very fortunate in the knowledge that, archaic policies on the
books though there may be, our local schools at least do not actively engage
in hitting children as a form of so-called discipline. Not all mothers can
feel so lucky.
A six-year-old child in Harper, Texas was told to get ready for a
spelling test at his school and retorted that it was boring, boring,
boring. However boring spelling tests may indeed be, I think we can all
agree that this behavior was rude and deserving of some sort of response.
Did his teacher discuss the need for good manners with the child? Did his
teacher write his name on the board? Perhaps make him take his test in the
hallway? No such luck.
The teacher sent him to the principal's office to be "swatted" on the behind
with some sort of implement of "swatting". The principal missed the child's
behind and hit his upper right thigh, leaving welts and bruises. The
child's injuries were not treated. He was returned to
class, made to apologize to his classmates and miss recess and spend the
rest of the day sitting on his raw wounds. Like me, his parents had made it
clear to the school that they did not want corporal punishment used on their
child. Not only were their wishes not heeded, but they also were not
informed of the punishment until after it had happened.
The welts and bruises that the principal left on this child lasted for
over a week. Make no mistake: if you left welts and bruises on your
six-year-old in the course of "discipline" and someone knew about it, the
state would be paying a little visit to your house and would be spending
some of its time and resources helping you learn how to take care of
your child better. I am a social worker and I know these things.
Protecting children is one of the most important jobs that the state can
do. When it comes to schools, however, the philosophy changes. Texas law
actually gives immunity from prosecution to school personal who
exercise corporal punishment on children, with or without their parents'
consent. If this child's mother had injured him the way the principal did,
she would be under the supervision of the state and would be forced to
participate in treatment and parent education as well as
constant scrutiny as a condition of keeping her son. The principal who did
injure the child, however, is still at his job and has faced no consequences
of any kind, although the family has taken their story to every media outlet
they know of, including this one, and have hired
an attorney.
This very little boy is now afraid to go to school and has
nightmares. His trust in the place where he is supposed to learn and grow
is shattered. His parents are working hard to seek justice and get out the
word so that other Texas children do not have to suffer what
their son has suffered, but too many children across our state and nation
are victims of these barbaric practices every day. Talk to your school
district about implementing a policy forbidding the use of corporal
punishment. Talk to your legislators about making corporal punishment in
Texas schools against the law. For more information on these issues contact
the Center for Effective Discipline at www.stophitting.org.
Thank you.
LA LECHE LEAGUE CORPUS CHRISTI WALKS FOR BREASTFEEDING
by Mariah Boone
Mimosa's ready to march!
On Saturday, August 25, La Leche League Corpus
Christi held its annual World Walk for Breastfeeding.
Each summer, La Leche League groups all over the world
organize walks to raise awareness about the importance
of breastfeeding and about the important work of La
Leche League International.
The walk in Corpus Christi was organized this
year by La Leche League Leader Nancy Graves and a
committee of dedicated moms who worked hard to make
the event a success. Check-in time was 8:30am at the
Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History. Walkers
started walking from there and headed down the
bayfront to the second in a series of miradores
(lookout places, for you North Texas types) that line
the seawall. Then the walkers headed back to the
museum for refreshments, storytime, games and prizes.
When asked about the walk, Graves, mama to
five-year-old Eric and two-year-old Julie, said:
"We're here today to promote breastfeeding as a
wonderful option for feeding your baby. Also, we want
to let moms know about La Leche League Corpus Christi
of La Leche League International. We have a phone
line twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and
meetings twice a month to answer moms' questions,
provide information and support breastfeeding. We're
also raising funds for the group today."
Gail Busch, a nursing mom and member of the walk
committee, who was there with her husband Louis Katz
and their two children, Sammy, 5, and Benny, 2, said
that she worked hard on the walk because breastfeeding
is very important for moms and their babies. She said
the walk was an opportunity to raise money for La
Leche League's work and bring breastfeeding to
people's minds.
More than 100 people participated in the walk
and the event was covered in the local newspaper and
the newscasts, so it looks like La Leche League Corpus
Christi did a great job of spreading the word. Thank
you, Corpus Moms! WE APPRECIATE IT!
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