Texas Middle School Paddles 12-Year-Old Without His Parents’ Permission, and That Is Never OK

giphy (36)(Via FYSpringfield.com)

If a stranger on the street spanked your kid without your permission, you’d probably blow a gasket. Hitting people is called assault, but somehow it’s still legal in some states for teachers to hit their students, even without a parent’s permission. One Texas mother discovered recently that her school had actually paddled her 12-year-old son without her consent, and she’s rightly furious.

According to SheKnows, some students at a middle school in Ector County, Texas, put glue on a substitute teacher’s chair. The specific culprit is unknown, but all the kids laughed at the childish prank, so all were punished. They were reportedly given the option of an in-school suspension or corporal punishment.

One mother says her son chose the paddling, which she discovered when she saw the bruising later. She’s furious, in part because the school did not ask her permission or notify her either before or after the fact, which is reportedly a requirement of the district’s corporal punishment policy.

“Ector County says you have to notify the parent. Whether it’s before or after,” she said to News 9. “Right now it is Thursday, this happened Tuesday. It has been more than 48 hours, I still have not gotten a letter by mail, I have not gotten a phone call from anyone from Ector Middle School saying, ‘your son was swatted.'”

Personally, I’m appalled that the school even has a corporal punishment policy, and especially that it reportedly includes “we just have to tell you afterwards that we hit your child.”

Nobody should be hitting 12-year-olds, certainly not hard enough to raise bruises.

Use your words, Ector County.

The mother–who specified that she is actually in favor of corporal punishment–has reportedly filed a police report. Nobody has been arrested yet, but the case is ongoing. I hope someone does get arrested over this, because it is assault. Maybe a court case will do something to make the school district get rid of this ridiculous corporal punishment policy.

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