Tiffanie Robinson
County School Board Tiffanie Robinson said the board should clarify its policy on corporal punishment.
She said the current policy has two many gray areas and "that could leave us open to a lawsuit."
She stated that Supt. Bryan Johnson is against corporal punishment and perhaps eight of the nine board members are also opposed.
Board member Rhonda Thurman said discipline problems are the number one factor causing so many teachers to leave the profession.
She said, "What will we have left - you can hit them with a wet noddle."
Ms. Thurman said some parents may alert officials they do not want their child spanked, "while some single moms may be willing to have them spanked."
Ms. Robinson said she does not believe the issue has anything to do with whether families are one parent or two, noting that she was raised by a single mom and is opposed to corporal punishment.
Karitsa Mosley Jones noted that she got a little corporal punishment herself when she was in the first grade. She said "Mr. Swafford paddled me on the hand." She said she went through the rest of her schooling without any more corporal punishment.
Ms. Thurman said she had administered some corporal punishment just prior to coming to the board meeting.
She said, "I swatted my four-year-old daughter twice - and hard one time. I love her better than anything, but I want her to behave."
Rhonda Thurman