-Corporal Punishment Banned

Corporal Punishment Banned.....

By: Lovely Bee

Should teachers be allowed to hit students? Apparently some teachers think so. Teachers gathered outside the Curriculum Center on April 27, 2010 (http://virginislandsdailynews.com/news/teachers-protest-superintendent-s-policies-1.748083) to protest policies that were made by Jeanette Smith-Barry, the St. Thomas-St. John District Superintendent. The teachers' union was arguing that without corporal punishment, they wouldn’t be able to control students.

Corporal punishment is lawful in schools. The Virgin Islands Code states, (http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org/pages/progress/reports/us-virgin.html) “All principals and teachers in the public schools shall have the right to exercise the same authority, as to conduct, and behavior, over pupils attending their schools during the time they are in attendance, including the time required in going to and from their homes, as parents, guardians or persons in parental relations to such pupils.”

But some teens don’t agree with this law. “Don’t hit kids. By hitting them they are learning nothing. Instead of beating them, talk to them,” said Aubrey, a senior at Kean High.

“One time in the 3rd grade I got beat with a ruler till it broke,” said Philip, another senior at Kean High School.

High school monitors were even affected by this sudden policy change. Their cans of mace and tasers were taken from them as part of the corporal punishment policy made by the district superintendent. “It leaves you with your hands tied; you can’t do anything with the kids. What are we supposed to do, keep a rude child around?” said Eddy L. Charles, JROTC Senior Army Instructor at Kean High.

“I think they need to bring it [corporal punishment] back,” said Sgt. Patrick Farrell, another Kean High Army Instructor.

But was it ever gone? The V.I code has allowed teachers to administer corporal punishment, but this spring Smith-Barry instituted a policy to ban it. Smith-Barry changed the policy because “We’ve had a couple of incidents that were most unfortunate and that gave evidence of the misuse. For example a teacher was taping three rulers together to hit the students with. In another case, a teacher lined up all the students and went down the line, beating each student for no justifiable reason.”

The teachers’ union doesn’t think the superintendent is going about it in the right way. “By banning corporal punishment in the district’s schools, Smith-Barry violated the law. If a change in policy is to be made, it must be the statute,” said Vernelle DeLagarde, President of American Federation of Teachers, St.Thomas-St. John District.

However, some teacher’s don’t agree with the union. An English teacher at Kean High, Dr. Thomas Unger, said, “I disagree with corporal punishment in schools because I believe violence has a problem as a technique; it simply breeds more violence.”

One student stated a solution in a more simple and abrupt way: “Behave and you won’t get beat!”