The House Education Committee approves a bill that bans corporal punishment in public schools. Metairie Representative Stephanie Hilferty says children should not be physically punished by the principal or teacher.
“We do not allow our juveniles in juvenile detention facilities to be hit, we do not allow prisoners in our prison system to be hit, I’m just asking for the same treatment of our K-through-12 students that they are not be allowed to be hit when they are in school,” said Hilferty.
No one on the House Education Committee objected to the bill. It has the support of retired educator and Baton Rouge Representative Barbara Freiberg.
“I’ve been fighting for doing away with corporal punishment ever since I’ve been involved in the school system,” said Freiberg.
Executive Director of the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents, Michael Faulk, says he knows of 19 school districts in Louisiana that have a school board policy allowing corporal punishment.
“But the clarifying thing there is more and more school systems are discouraging the use of corporal punishment as a means for discipline,” said Faulk.
This same bill died in the House last year as it failed on a floor vote of 48 to 49.
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