LANDDIS HOLLIFIELDLike other school districts in North Carolina, McDowell County Schools saw a sharp decrease in the number of students who received paddlings during the 2012-13 school year.A recent report from child advocacy group Action for Children North Carolina shows that only one child received corporal punishment in McDowell last year. Corporal punishment is defined as the intentional infliction of pain upon the body of a student as a disciplinary measure.The year’s report on the controversial disciplinary tool shows a dramatic drop in the number of students being paddled in the county.During the 2011-12 school year, 29 students received corporal punishment. A year before that, during the 2010-11 school year, 70 students were paddled for various reasons. Those numbers show that McDowell saw a 98.5 percent decrease in the number of students facing corporal punishment between the 2010-11 school year and 2012-13 school year.Of the 115 school districts in North Carolina, only 15 still allow the use of corporal punishment.The report from Action for North Carolina shows that only six counties, including McDowell, actually paddled students during the 2012-13 school year.Since corporal punishment reports are not released from the state until February, Action for North Carolina gathered their information for this year’s report by collecting surveys from districts that still allow corporal punishment.Senior Fellow of Action for Children North Carolina Tom Vitaglione said that the child advocacy group is pleased with the downturn in the amount of corporal punishment McDowell is using.“We are quite encouraged that the numbers in McDowell have dropped dramatically over the past few years,” said Vitaglione. “McDowell was often among the leaders in the use of corporal punishment. We are hoping the local board will soon agree to prohibit the practice altogether.”As of deadline on Tuesday, The McDowell News was unable to get in touch with Interim Superintendent Mark Garrett to discuss the decrease in the use of corporal punishment last year.
