Paddling will be banned in Marion County Schools next year, just one year after corporal punishment was given the o-k by school board members.
The change comes despite the fact that no students were paddled, but with the acknowledgement of complaints made by parents.
Last year the Marion County School Board approved corporal punishment in the form of paddling at the district’s elementary schools.
“There was a large ground swell against corporal punishment in the Marion County school system.” Said Marion County School Board Chair Bobby James.
Last night, the same five board members took another vote and reversed course, banning corporal punishment in a 3-to-2 decision.
“I was against it last year, I was against it this year, and I am glad people realize it isn’t something we should be doing at this point.” added James.
Sid Rainbolt, a father of a student, saw the decision coming, "I think enough parents put pressure on the principals or the school board itself and they figured they better go back to the way they used to run it.”
As it turns out, despite all the controversy no students were actually paddled at Marion County schools this year.
Parents had to first given written permission, which some did.
But more importantly, principals had to choose whether to have it in their schools. None did.
For James the only black mark left behind from the one year paddling experiment is on the board’s legacy, but he says he’s ready to move forward.
“I’m just happy we can say to parents and principals we as a School Board finally got it right.” Said James.
The only other Central Florida school district that allows paddling is Lake County. We reached out to district officials to find out how often paddling is being utilized there. We are waiting to hear back.