lwv ohio action alert

 

The League of Women Voters of Ohio (LWVO) supports Am. HB 26 (Williams) based on our national positions that promote the "...well-being, encourage the full-development, and ensure the safety of all children."  (LWVUS Statement of Position on Early Intervention for Children at Risk, 1994)  The LWVO supported efforts in 1994 to ban corporal punishment, but those efforts were not successful.

 

Opponents of corporal punishment, including LWVO, have urged lawmakers for several years to ban corporal punishment in Ohio's schools.  The Center for Effective Discipline, which includes forty-seven Ohio organizations, has collected data and research regarding the use of corporal punishment in Ohio's schools, and has urged lawmakers to address this issue for over twenty years. 

ACTION NEEDED: Please contact your House representative and urge her/him to support Am. HB 26, which bans corporal punishment in all Ohio public and non-public schools.  The Ohio House is expected to vote on Am. HB 26 the week of April 20, 2009.  Members of the Ohio House can be contacted at http://www.house.state.oh.us/.

 

 

Am. HB 26 bans corporal punishment in all Ohio public and nonpublic schools, by amending Section 3319.41 of the Ohio Revised Code to read, "No person employed or engaged as a teacher, principal, administrator, non-licensed school employee, or bus driver in a public or chartered nonpublic school may inflict or cause to be inflicted corporal punishment as a means of discipline upon a pupil attending such school..." 

 

The bill retains provisions to ensure order and safety in schools by allowing school employees to use and apply force and restraint as is "reasonable and necessary to quell a disturbance threatening physical injury to others, to obtain possession of weapons or other dangerous objects upon the person or within the control of the pupil, for the purpose of self-defense, or for the protection of persons or property." 

 

The LWVO urges members of the Ohio House to recognize that corporal punishment has no place in 21^st Century Schools and should be eliminated.  Talking points include:

 

1) Corporal punishment inflicts physical, mental, and emotional harm to children in a school setting, which should ensure the safety of all children.

 

2) The State of Ohio has already banned corporal punishment in child care facilities, foster homes, and institutions for children.  It should also be banned in Ohio schools.

 

3) Over six hundred school districts in Ohio and all Catholic schools are currently educating students without using corporal punishment.  Only six school districts in Ohio have policies that support corporal punishment.

 

4) Corporal punishment is not necessary.  There are a number of successful and safe strategies that schools can use to help students control their behavior. 

 

BACKGROUND:  Current law allows school district boards of education to adopt a policy allowing corporal punishment after the school board and community study the issue.  According to data from the Ohio Department of Education, in the 2007-2008 school year, 110 students were paddled in six Ohio school districts.  Over six hundred school districts in Ohio and all Catholic schools are currently educating students without using corporal punishment.  Twenty-nine states and over one hundred countries have banned corporal punishment.   Forty-seven Ohio organizations support this ban, including the Children's Defense Fund, the Ohio Association of School Nurses, the Ohio PTA, and the American Academy of Pediatrics-Ohio Branch.

 

Many school districts have implemented positive, effective, safe, and humane strategies to help students control and improve behavior in school.  These include character education, social skills instruction, peer mediation, and positive behavior support (PBS).

 

These programs and strategies lead to safe and supportive school environments for all students, educators, and the community.  The State Board of Education has developed a number of resources, guidelines, and tools on its website for school districts to use to ensure safe and supportive learning environments, without using corporal punishment.  These tools include School Climate Guidelines, Building Character Education in Ohio, and a Model Policy for Districts Prohibiting Bullying, Harassment, and Intimidation, which was mandated by the General Assembly through 127-HB276.