Jackie Alexander
Staff write

Published: Thursday, April 7, 2011 at 7:53 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, April 7, 2011 at 7:53 p.m.

The 5-year-old son of Tenika Jones missed a week of school and still suffers from nightmares of the woman who spanked him -- his school principal.

"That's child abuse to me," Jones said on Thursday during a news conference at the Northwood YMCA.

Jones and the Southern Poverty Law Center, American Civil Liberties Union and a state coalition want to ban paddling, which is still practiced in 27 Florida school districts, including where Jones lives in Levy County.

Jones said she never gave administrators at Joyce Bullock Elementary School permission to paddle her son. The bruises on his buttocks from the February incident led to an asthma attack, she said, and a hospital trip.

“If they don't want us to hit our kids, they shouldn't either,” she said.

No one at the school contacted her about the punishment, stemming from an incident on a school bus, Jones said.

"Every step (the principal) did, she was wrong," Jones said.

Although paddling is practiced in only a third of school districts, more than 3,600 incidents of paddling were reported during the 2009-2010 school year -- more than 100 per week, according to the SPLC.

“Corporal punishment is harmful and ineffective,” said Jerri Katzerman, director of educational advocacy for the SPLC. “It does not make schools safe, and it does not lead to positive academic outcomes.”

Alachua County Public Schools banned paddling several years ago, spokeswoman Jackie Johnson said. Marion County banned the practice last year. Twenty states allow paddling in schools.

State statute dictates the parameters for paddling and prohibits administrators from paddling kindergarten students. Jones' son is a pre-kindergarten student, she said.

It was unknown at press time if the principal was disciplined for her actions.

In New Orleans, hundreds of people marched in support of corporal punishment at a historically black Catholic school this February, arguing that paddling helps build character and maintains a high graduation rate.

According to the Levy County schools code of conduct, corporal punishment should never be given to students with a known physical condition that would cause their life to be endangered.

Jones said her son, who suffers from asthma, falls under that category, as his crying provoked an asthma attack and prevented him from breathing properly.

Shaloma Shawmut-Lessner of the Florida Coalition to Abolish Corporal Punishment in Schools has worked to end the practice, convincing lawmakers to exempt kindergartners in 2010.

“That's all we've won from 1970 to today,” she said.

Katzerman said paddling disproportionately affects black and disabled students. Black students comprise 17 percent of the public school population but receive nearly 40 percent of paddlings, according to the SPLC.

Jones said she hopes her story informs parents and forces lawmakers to reverse their stance.

“I want them to stop,” she said. “It doesn't make sense.”

LINK TO PHOTO: 

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20110407/ARTICLES/110409598/1169?Title=Woman-protests-paddling-of-her-5-year-old-son-in-Levy-County