Child advocacy groups admonish schools that hit, paddle studentsOKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma lawmakers discussed on Monday whether corporal punishment is an asset to school discipline, but a coalition of child advocates called for the state to ban public schools from inflicting physical pain on students.Rep. Jim Olsen, R-Roland, hosted an interim study at the state Capitol to consider the “effectiveness of properly administered corporal punishment.” Olsen said he has no plans to file legislation on the topic but wanted to discuss both sides of the issue.The Oklahoma State Department of Education in 2020 prohibited schools from using physical force to discipline students with disabilities. A bill failed to pass in the state House this year that would have encoded a similar prohibition in state law.Oklahoma law bans corporal punishment only for students with the “most significant cognitive disabilities.”More than 1,500 Oklahoma students, including 276 students with disabilities, experienced corporal punishment in the 2020-21 school year, according to the most recent data set available from the U.S. Department of Education.Out of 512 districts in the state, 137 permit corporal punishment, according to a 2023 report from Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice. The report’s author, David Blatt, spoke during the interim study Monday against corporal punishment, presenting multiple studies that link it to a risk of child injury and further negative behaviors.Olsen and Rep. Randy Randleman, R-Eufaula, said during the study that local school districts, not the state, should decide whether to permit corporal punishment.“I have no desire to insist that every parent use corporal punishment, nor that every school use corporal punishment,” Olsen said. “The goal is to leave that as an option for those schools.”Randleman is a certified teacher and licensed psychologist. He said corporal punishment is unnecessary in most situations, but it could be appropriate in some contexts if a child is exhibiting misbehavior that is unrelated to a disability or emotional disturbance.Warner Public Schools Superintendent David Vinson said his district applies corporal punishment sparingly and only with parental consent. He said it helps “tremendously” in his eastern Oklahoma district as a deterrent of bad behavior.“I feel like if you’re in a school district or community that has allowed it and continues to allow it, then that’s where it needs to stay, is within those local communities,” Vinson said. “It’s part of our local control.”Multiple medical organizations and child welfare groups recommend corporal punishment be abolished in ...
