18-year-old student sues over paddling

[rainbow4321]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D87UGCH84.html


When Jessica Serafin enrolled in a charter high school, her mother signed a form allowing administrators to paddle her as punishment.

But by the time a summer school principal paddled her last June, Serafin was already 18 and legally an adult.

Now she's suing the School of Excellence in Education, San Antonio's largest charter school, alleging it was wrong for the principal to paddle an adult student without her consent. She says the beating she received for leaving campus to get breakfast was so severe she had to go to the emergency room.

The lawsuit was filed Jan. 10 in state district court. Last week, a notice was filed to move it to federal court. Although the lawsuit also alleges civil rights violations and negligence, a key element in the case is her age and the fact she didn't consent, her attorney said.

[Massacure]

1. If my principle paddled me, I would paddle his ass right back!

edited for spelling.

[slackmaster]

21. Yes, paddling is battery

Hitting someone who paddled you back would be self-defense.

[bloom]

2. Seems like the principal could be charged with battery.

Even if she wasn't an adult. Why should someone's parent signing something make battery Ok?


On the other hand - schools should be able to have rules and if people go against the rules - the schools should be free to kick them out.


I don't know if you can force someone to be educated. But that's another story, I guess.

[1monster]

8. Not just the principal, but the other two adults who held her down so that

he could beat her. This should be illegal in any situation.

"This case is not about a crusade against corporal punishment," said Dan Hargove, her attorney. "It's not a crusade against charter schools. ... This case is about three adults holding down an adult female and beating her with a wooden paddle so bad that she ended up in the hospital."

[ooglymoogly]

31. to say nothing of sadistic sexual molestation

how many men get off on spanking

[CrispyQ]

35. That was my first thought too.

That this whacko actually got off on the spanking. I hope she pursues criminal charges.

[noamnety]

3. Isn't that assault?

Shouldn't there be criminal charges as well?

[vpigrad]

14. Exactly!

Violent people like that should be in jail. Anyone who would attack and beat a child doesn't deserve freedom. I bet that thug principal is a repuke and a gun owner. People who beat children always are.

[CatholicEdHead]

4. What type of school paddles teenagers?

"The School of Excellence in Education advocates an "old-school" approach to discipline. Uniforms must be tucked in, girls can wear only one pair of earrings, and boys must open doors and pull out chairs for their female peers. It is the only public school in Bexar County that paddles students."

This is really opressive (granted it is a private Texas school), but still. Who thinks it is ever a good idea to paddle/spank teenagers?

[elehhhhna]

5. Ironic. Old fashioned values are violent, eh?

[classof56]

7. I don't think it's a good idea for educators to hit students.

Can't understand parents who would agree in writing to that. But then there are many parents around who'd just as soon someone else deal with their kids--and believe me, as a parent who survived raising teenagers, I fully understand the frustrations and difficulties they can send your way. But beatings are way over the top, IMHO, especially if in this particular case the girl's paddling was for what seems a pretty minor infraction. I'm guessing the principal might have gotten his/her jollies that way, but again, just MHO. I keep wondering what kind of stuff the soldiers who engaged in the Abu Ghraib torture must have endured while they were growing up. Violence begets violence...sad but true.

Tired Old Cynic

[noamnety]

16. small correction

You said it's a private school, but no, it's public - says so right in your own post, in the sentence before that.

Regardless, it speaks volumes about the values they are teaching the students there. Don't like what someone is doing? Don't like how they dress? Beat the crap out of them.

[knitter4democracy]

23. The beatings are beyond the pale, but the uniform isn't.

When I taught in Catholic high schools, the uniforms had to be tucked in, and girls were supposed to wear only one pair of earrings (often overlooked that one, personally). We didn't make the boys pull chairs out or anything like that, but we did enforce basic rules of respect.

Of course, there is no way any student would ever be beaten at either school I taught at. That's just ridiculous. She left school property without permission, so she gets beaten?! Why not just put her in detention? Why not get a bit more creative and have her help wash desks for an hour after school or even better, make her call her mother and explain why she couldn't be found.

I seriously doubt the ED staff put a cast on her hand for no reason or just because she asked for one. How could those school administrators say her case had no merit?! There's no way I could ever teach at a place like that.

[Fleshdancer]

6. What type of mother gives permission to paddle their 17 yr old?

Spanking a teen...that seems more like a sick fetish than actual discipline.

Seriously though, as a parent, I find it disgusting that parents would allow other adults to take a piece of wood to their child's body - regardless of their age. Sick.

[pop goes the weasel]

12. the kind who wants her to attend that school

or any school, actually. When my daughter was little, we lived in a district that used corporal punishment. At the beginning of each school year, the district sent home a note to be signed by the parents for permission to paddle the kid. Nowhere on the note was there any indication that refusal to sign was an option--in fact, the note was carefully worded to make it seem that failure to sign would give the school the right to refuse to educate the child. I didn't sign, but I'm sure that lots of parents did, even if they disagreed with the policy.

So, I don't blame the parent, who may have reckoned that the chance of her kid being paddled was small and outweighed by other things that the school offered. But I do blame the school administration and the State of Texas for allowing schools to administer corporal punishment. It shouldn't be allowed, no matter what the age of the child.

[Fleshdancer]

22. When I was a student in TX....

the permission slips in public schools allowed the options for "no"...which was always the option my parents checked. This was the public school system 10 years ago. Yes, blaming the state and school district is a good idea, but I have a hard time believing this mother didn't have the choice.

[Occulus]

9. Ka-blam.

She's eighteen,. She's an adult. This was an assault. It should be a criminal charge.

By all rights, she could have struck them back just as hard. I would advocate this for any eighteen year old, in opublic or private school.

At eighteen you become a voting and (potentially) taxpaying adult. Nobody- nobody- has the right to assault anyone else without being subject to the victim defending themselves.

Kids, if you're eighteen and your "teacher" paddles you, hit 'em back. There is no excuse for this behavior on the part of a "teacher" (legally, at eighteen, your 'peer'), and they should expect to be given the exact same treatment if they try it.

This is, by the way, the only way these forms of punishment will ever be completely eliminated- the kids need to know it's ok, in these cases and these cases alone, to hit back.

further edit: if any "teacher" had tried this on me, I would have done my level best to put him/her into the hospital for while. Get them out of the classroom, and hopefully out of teching in general.

[noamnety]

15. I oppose hitting them back

Although I think it could legally stand as self-defense.

I'd go with filing charges, so they get a criminal record - which ought to prohibit them from working in a public school.

[Bucky]

45. I wish you were right

Unless you charge the child with assault, you'll just get a judge shrugging his shoulders and throwing out the charges against the principal. There'd never be a charge made. So turning around and decking the administrator is probably the best way to ensure that the case gets heard.

I hate it when violence solves problems.

[MountainLaurel]

30. Hard for her to hit back

When there were TWO people holding her down.

:grr:

[McKenzie]

10. this whole subject has a creepy undertow to it

there were objections raised about the creepy undertones associated with physical punishment of young people over 2,000 years ago so it's not a "modern libral" thing.

When one considers the massive amount of porn that is chastisement-based, the reasons why it should cease immediately are very clear. Beating schoolgirls is a recurring theme in a substantial part of the adult "entertainment" (sic) industry.

I find this story fucking sick. If I were her father I'd knock the shit out of anyone who did that to my daughter.

And, yes, I could substantiate my claims about the amount of porn that based around this theme.

[Bouncy Ball]

26. I totally agree.

This is sick, plain and simple. That school and principal will lose, sounds like she has a solid case.

Ug.

[depakid]

11. Yep- this is battery alright

Too bad she lives in Texas....

[KissMeKate]

13. This practice feeds the S and M industry.

I hope thes people are put in jail. This is clearly assault.

[Swamp Rat]

17. Assult and battery. n/t

The two that helped are just as guilty.

[LisaL]

18. I had no clue such a thing as puddling was still allowed to go on.

[DiverDave]

19. Look, she should have never let the

guy near her.
I mean, come on, someone comes at you with a paddle, what would you do? Run? Scream?, The perfect thing to to do?
Right in the nad's with the foot.
He would have quit, I guarantee it.
That being said, this is clearly an assault case, I hope she gets a ton'o money from this scumbag.

[ultraist]

25. "She should have never let the guy come near her" WTF?

LET the guy? She was HELD DOWN by two adults.

I guess their violent actions are her fault. *sigh*

[DiverDave]

29. Were do people get their crystal balls??

I missed the held down by 2 people, so take your outrage elsewhere.
Maybe you could have just pointed it out to me instead of getting all pissy.

[rainbow4321]

43. Here ya go..."restrained her w/ the help of 2 employees"

http://www.nospank.net/n-n87r.htm


A former student at the School of Excellence in Education is suing the charter school, alleging that an administrator used excessive force by disciplining her with a 4-foot-long wooden paddle known as "Ole Thunder."

Attorneys for Jessica Serafin, 18, filed the personal injury lawsuit Monday in state district court against the school and Brett Wilkinson, who her attorney said served as a summer school principal.

According to the suit, Wilkinson summoned Serafin to the principal's office on June 18, restrained her with the help of two employees, and struck her repeatedly on her bottom, hip and leg.

At one point, Serafin tried to shield herself from the blows using her hand, and Wilkinson "smashed her hand with the paddle," the suit alleges.

[DiverDave]

44. Thank You

maybe others could learn from your example

[saltpoint]

20. Don't know this young woman, but wouldn't blame her -

- one bit if she sued the blue blazes out of everyone involved.

I'm also queasy about a parent who signs a paper which greenlights another person to administer corporal punishment to a young person of any age.

[ultraist]

24. I agree, it's assault and battery and all three should be charged

The school has a Gospel choir and a Faith Dance Club. Could this be yet another case of "Spare the rod, spoil the child?" It seems that the biggest proponents of using violence against children rely on Bible quotes to justify their *theories*.

They certainly are not relying on scholarly research to back up the idea that using violence is an effective or appropriate means of disciplining.

I noticed that their "Beliefs" page is under construction. A "Beliefs" page, a FAITH dance group, or a GOSPEL choir and pretty revealing clues.

[Bouncy Ball]

27. Yep and since they are a charter school in TX they get

PUBLIC SCHOOL FUNDS for that stuff.

Yep.

[baldguy]

28. I would think this is assault no matter how old she is.

And no matter what paper they had mom sign.

[Name removed]

32. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ProfessorGAC]

33. Somebody Has Truly Lost Their Tiny Mind

Paddling an 18 year old? That's the dumbest thing i've ever heard. The principal is lucky the student didn't just stomp her into the pavement.

I don't care what the circumstances are: Fire the principal and anyone else involved, RIGHT NOW!
The Professor

[ClearMessage]

34. that's Texas 'values' for you (n/t)

[Toots]

36. Making the boys pull out chairs for girls strikes me as sexist

I believe that could be found to be illegal as well as beating eighteen year olds with a piece of lumber.

[LoZoccolo]

37. Sue their asses off! Bankrupt the school and shut it down!

Make every parent who had the nerve to prop up this place with their cash pay for it when they see the place shut down!

[MountainLaurel]

38. It's not a private school

It's a PUBLIC charter school, so none of those parents are contributing jack shit other than their tax dollars, and whatever time and BDSM instruments they choose to donate. If I were a taxpayer in that jurisdiction, I would be fucking rioting.

[Must_B_Free]

46. Would Paddling be an appropriate punishment for the 3 Adults?

Obviously they need a little common sense knocked into them.

[Solly Mack]

39. that principal would have been pooping splinters had he paddled

me at 18.

and I would have had a short, unpleasant, talk with my mother afterwards...

[txaslftist]

40. I think there's a provision in Texas law that permits paddling...

at least there was when I was in High School. They called it "spats", and my father told the principal in no uncertain terms that HE would handle all corporal punishment, not the principal. Had I ever been delinquent enough to warrant "spats" I suspect my father's discipline would have been much more severe. I would have considered "spats" getting off light, even had I needed to go to the ER.

Nonetheless, striking someone over 18 without consent is battery, period. I don't think "spats" would have been allowed against someone 18 or older, even in my school. They would have been expelled instead.

[rainbow4321]

42. The school districts get to decide

Dallas school district has suspended the paddling policy for two months..I believe they are trying to eliminate it all together. The study belowed came out not too long before they suspended the paddling:


http://www.nospank.net/pssnt2.htm


Dr. Alvin Poussaint, a Professor Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the Judge Baker Children’s Center in Boston, known to many Americans for his work on the Cosby Show, is one of several African American leaders calling on the Dallas Independent School District to ban corporal punishment and asking Dallas citizens to support the ban.

“According to public records, students paddled in the Dallas Independent School District in the 2003-04 school year were overwhelmingly African American children and overwhelmingly African American boys,” said Dr. Pousssaint. “One second grade African American boy was paddled twenty five times and eight African American boys were paddled more than ten times each,” he said. “This is outrageous and must stop. Corporal punishment does not prevent misbehavior. If it worked, educators wouldn’t be hitting kids multiple times. The more children are hit, the more likely they are to be aggressive and violent. It is a factor in creating violence in our communities,” he said.

--------------
http://www.nospank.net/n-n74r.htm

The Dallas school board banned paddling in schools at Thursday night's meeting – at least temporarily. Trustees voted to implement a two-month moratorium on corporal punishment to allow administrators to come up with a proposal to ban paddling and provide alternatives to discipline students. Such a proposal would still require broad approval.

The paddle is idle in DISD, at least for now. Trustee Ron Price, who supports paddling, suggested the moratorium that took the place of a recommendation to immediately ban paddling in the district.

"This gives our administration the opportunity to go back and study these issues ... and bring forth a legitimate plan," he said. The moratorium passed in a 6-2 vote. Trustees Hollis Brashear and Lew Blackburn abstained, and Joe May was absent.

The number of parents in the district who have signed forms allowing their children to be paddled has dwindled. As of last week, 453 parents had given consent, compared with 3,335 last year. <87% drop!>




edited to include DISD article

[DS1]

41. And this, everyone, is why we have Tazers

( especially in Nursing Homes, because there's no rage like the rage of a confused old woman ) :eyes:

[donheld]

47. Absolute insanity

This or any other school that uses these technics should be closed. I hope she sues and gets EVERYTHING.

[rocktivity]

48. My sister expelled her age 18 and up students when became a principal

but not without information on how to get a GED. There was one exception--a student who'd missed 18 months of school due to illness. But she warned him that he'd be expelled if he didn't get a least a C in all his subjects.

:headbang:
rocknation

[ghostsofgiants]

49. Was he paddlin' the school canoe?

Oh, you better believe that's a paddlin'.

Sorry. I'll move along now.