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Missouri school district will now give parents choice on disciplinary action… suspension or the paddle

August 25, 2022 | | Print Article

When parents in Cassville, Missouri, told their schools that they wanted an alternate form of discipline for unruly students that didn’t involve a suspension, the school district came back with an old-school solution: Spanking them.

Yes, pitch a fit in a Cassville school and a trip to the principal’s office could mean facing the dreaded paddle if the parent of the child has opted into the program, according to Fox News.

Cassville School District Superintendent Dr. Merlyn Johnson told local KOLR that the policy change came at the behest of parents who didn’t want their little trouble-makers suspended.

“The complaints that we have heard from some of our parents is that they don’t want their students suspended. They want another option,” Johnson said. “And so, this was just another option that we could use before we get to that point of suspension.”

The superintendent stressed that any paddlings would be delivered by school administrators in the presence of another certified school employee.


While school paddling is hardly a new disciplinary concept, the suggestion of corporal punishment doesn’t sit well with some parents.

Miranda Waltrip, who has three little ones enrolled in Cassville public schools, cautions against a return to “the good old days.”

“We live in a really small community where people were raised a certain way, and they’re kind of blanketed in that fact that they grew up having discipline and swats,” she said. “And so, for them, it’s like going back to the good old days, but it’s not because it’s going to do more harm than good at the end of the day.”

What Cassville students need, Waltrip argued, was not a spanking but some help dealing with their problems in more constructive ways.

“You know, I feel like if they had a different outlet like counseling services and school instead of corporal punishment, that would be the more appropriate answer,” she said. “At the end of the day they are having to hold the child down and spank them or use whatever means that they can to make the child submissive when that is not the issue, it is the fact that they need to be heard, because children act out for varied reasons.”

But according to Johnson, parents can choose at any time during the school year whether or not to give the school license to swat their kids — a move that would only be made as a last resort.

“Corporal punishment will be used only when other means of discipline have failed,” she said, “and then only in reasonable form, when the principal approves it.”

Naturally, those on the left are using the school district’s decision to reinstate the paddle as a chance to smear conservatives.

“Red states literally going backwards,” wrote one user.

“Exactly,” replied another, ” next thing u know they will be banning books……oh wait.”

“I still remember being paddled in 1st grade in Arkansas,” shared another user. “I was 6 y.o. – it was 1958. It taught me nothing but humiliation and injustice.
I remain outspoken and defiant to this day, so … that went well.”

But not all are against the notion, especially considering the parents’ required consent.

“Well the good thing is it’s optional for parents,” tweeted one pragmatic user. “I wouldn’t have the school paddling my kids, but let’s be honest some kids need it, and some parents probably need someone to do it for them. ”

Melissa Fine
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