What would you do if your child was spanked at school?

That’s the question I asked myself after reading about the news story of a male  Springtown School District vice principal who spanked a 15-year-old female student as punishment for cheating at her Texas high school.  Texas is one of the 19 (GASPS!) states to reportedly allow corporal punishment in schools, according to the Center for Effective Discipline.

Apparently 15-year-old Taylor Santos and another student were caught cheating and were initially punished with two-days of in school suspension.  After serving her first day and not wanting to miss anymore class, Taylor asked her vice principal to vacate her suspension in exchange for paddling.  The school received permission from her mother first–as per school policy–before the vice principal proceeded to spank the student.

“I knew school policy was females swatted females and males swatted males,” her mother, Anna Jorgensen, told WFAA-TV. “If Taylor wanted that, I said that would be fine.” But it ended up that the male vice principal would spank Taylor.  Her mother is reporting that the spanking was so severe it left Taylor with welts, blisters and bruises on her buttocks.

This isn’t the first time the Springtown School District has gotten in trouble for using excessive force when spanking in schools.  In 2007, a Springtown Middle School coach paddled a 12-year-old boy so hard that it left a large bruise on his thigh, spurring officials to restrict paddlings to administrators, according to the Weatherford Democrat. As on Monday night the Springtown school board changed their discipline policy–parents will have to opt-in to authorize corporal punishment and will also choose whether they want a male or female staff member to administer any punishment.

School officials having this kind of clearance over our kids scares me, for many reasons, many are already noted here.  Why are parents giving the schools permission physically punish their kids?! And after having this many occurrences of excessive force used in this school, I’m surprised no parent has petitioned for the corporal punishment policy be repealed.   I’m also confused as to what’s allowed and what isn’t because apparently in Texas, parents are arrested for spanking their children while school officials are given free rein to abuse their students.

As much as this story infuriates me, I’m even more disapointed after finding out MY state was one of the 19 states who have corporal punishment policy on the books.  I’ve committed to contacting my daughter’s principal to get clarification and find out what needs to be done to do away with these types of policies.  Here’s the list, is your state list?  (Please share in the comments section)

Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wyoming.