Corporal Punishment Makes Comeback

By DEBORAH KOLBEN, Staff Reporter of the Sun
September 27, 2005

While corporal punishment was outlawed in 1985, it turns out some teachers in New York have not been sparing the rod.

A teacher last year smacked a student with a yardstick after pushing his head onto a desk and grabbing his arm, the city's Department of Education told The New York Sun yesterday. Another teacher pushed a classroom table into a student, and a school aide grabbed and pushed a student into a wall.

These are just several of 646 cases of verified corporal punishment reported in city schools in the spring semester of 2004 alone, according to the Associated Press.

The AP reported earlier this week that such cases have doubled statewide over the past five years, to 4,223 in 2004, even though far fewer schools actually reported the data. The total state figure includes all allegations, while the city figure represents only substantiated cases.

The chairwoman of the City Council's Committee on Education, Eva Moskowitz, called the city's 646 instances of corporal punishment "mind-boggling."

"It's unimaginable in this day and age that you would have people using corporal punishment. It's illegal and wrong, and grown-ups should know better," Ms. Moskowitz said. "I'd like to understand where exactly this is occurring, but my suspicion is that there are additional problems at these schools."

Since the practice was banned two decades ago, all New York school districts have been required to submit to the state twice-a-year corporal punishment reports. A review by the Associated Press, based on information obtained under the Freedom of Information Law, found that only 243 out of the 832 school districts actually filed those reports at the end of last year.

Until January 2004, each of the city's 32 school districts reported the information directly to the state. Now, the city's education department submits a report directly to the state.

A spokesman for the Department of Education, Jerry Russo, said, "Just one of these cases is one too many." He said the department takes each accusation seriously and pursues appropriate action when they are reported. The department was not able to provide corporal punishment statistics for other years.

Currently, there is no penalty in place for districts that do not file, but the state Department of Education sent a report last week to the state Board of Regents suggesting tougher rules and regulations.

"There is no consequence for not reporting, but we have recommended comprehensive changes," a spokesman for the department, Jonathan Burman, said.

The city education department provided the Sun with only a few examples of specific cases yesterday and said that punishment varied.

The school aide who pushed a student into the wall was sent for additional training after the act was deemed "poor judgment," while the teacher who wielded a yardstick was fired. A teacher who hit a student on the leg with a wooden object received a disciplinary letter.

The department defines corporal punishment as "any act of physical force upon a pupil for the purpose of punishing that pupil." Physical force is not considered corporal punishment when used in cases of self-defense or to protect a student or school property.

Corporal punishment is still allowed in 23 states, including Arkansas, Indiana, and Mississippi. In Utah, the practice is not allowed unless it is requested by a parent.

Across the country, the number of students struck in public schools dropped to 342,000 from 1.5 million between 1976 and 2000, according to an analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Education by a nonprofit group, the Center for Effective Discipline.

Parochial and private schools are not required to follow the state regulations on corporal punishment, but many have voluntarily banned the practice.

"In my 25 years in the system of doing this, I haven't heard one complaint about corporal punishment. It's not part of our philosophy of how we deal with children," a spokeswoman for the schools of the Archdiocese of New York, Nora Murphy, said.