{"id":5551,"date":"2012-03-13T14:17:20","date_gmt":"2012-03-13T18:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=5551"},"modified":"2013-01-10T07:03:21","modified_gmt":"2013-01-10T12:03:21","slug":"why-florida-schools-can-paddle-students-against-parents-wishes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2012\/03\/13\/why-florida-schools-can-paddle-students-against-parents-wishes\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Florida Schools Can Paddle Students Against Parents’ Wishes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sarah Gonzalez \/ StateImpact Florida<\/p>

Gierrea Bostick, 6, was paddled on his second week of pre-school without the consent of his mom, Tenika Jones. The paddles allegedly left welts on Gierrea\u2019s bottom and Jones has filed a notice to sue the Levy County School District.<\/p><\/div>\n

State law allows schools in Florida to punish students by spanking them with a paddle<\/a>, which is often a wooden or plexiglass board.<\/p>\n

The administrators at most schools with corporal punishment policies ask parents for permission to paddle their children. Many principals say they will not paddle a kid against the parent\u2019s wishes.<\/p>\n

But schools don\u2019t always check the paperwork before they administer the punishment.<\/p>\n

And when that happens, Florida statutes protect the principals and teachers from lawsuits.<\/p>\n

Florida<\/strong> Law Protects Principals and Teachers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Robert Rush, a civil rights attorney in Gainesville, says\u00a0state law does not require schools to get parental consent.<\/p>\n

“If the school board and the principal specifically authorize corporal punishment, it can be administered lawfully against the parent’s wishes,” Rush said.\u00a0\nhttps:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2012\/03\/Spanking-Lawsuit-w-intro.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

State statutes say a principal or the principals designated representative \u201cshall not be civilly or criminally liable for any action carried out in conformity<\/a> with the State Board of Education and district school board rules regarding the control, discipline, suspension, and expulsion of students.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Check out our map of districts which practice corporal punishment here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

That means schools cannot be sued for paddling students.<\/p>\n

“And part of the reason for that is to do a balancing test so that we’re not disrupting schools unnecessarily with frivolous claims,” Rush said.<\/p>\n

The only way a parent can sue<\/a> is to argue excessive force or cruel and unusual punishment.<\/p>\n

In Levy County, Tenika Jones is making that claim.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Sarah Gonzalez \/ StateImpact Florida<\/p>

A typical wooden paddle used for school corporal punishment.<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/strong>Mom Says Paddling Left Welts on Preschooler<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>Her son Gierrea Bostick was paddled during his second week of preschool at Joyce Bullock Elementary in Williston, Fla.<\/p>\n

Gierrea slapped another boy on the school bus. He was five years old.<\/p>\n

Gierrea says he was taken off the bus and sent to the principal’s office for a spanking.<\/p>\n

“She spank me on my booty,\u201d Gierrea said.\u00a0\u201cI cried all the way home. It was really hard.”<\/p>\n

Jones says the wooden paddle left welts on Gierrea’s bottom.<\/p>\n

And she says her son’s welts show that excessive force was used.<\/p>\n

“If I would have hit my son how she hit him, I would have been in jail, I would have been on the news, I would have been messed up trying to get my children back, how she hit my son,\u201d Jones said. \u201cShe whipped him up and to me that’s child abuse.”<\/p>\n

Jones did not sign the waiver the school sent home asking for permission to paddle her son.<\/p>\n

She has filed a notice to sue the Levy County School District.<\/p>\n

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