Group
Assignment #3

A
teacher working in your middle school is something of a poor
disciplinarian.  He is a recent
graduate of a relatively weak college of education; where his study apparently
did not impress upon him the importance of consistency, firmness, compassion,
or the importance of establishing a trusting relationship with his
students.  He begins the year by
informing his students that he sees himself as a friend to the students, and
intends to run the classroom in a “democratic” fashion.  Children being what they are, they are
at first pleased and impressed with his open-minded and friendly attitude, but
soon start testing the boundaries of permissible behavior.  Within a month things are out of control
in the classroom.  The assistant
principal who supervises the teacher has repeatedly told him to get things
under control, but, predictably, the teacher is having a hard time
“unringing the bell” at this point.  Finally, in mid-October, the teacher has
had enough.  When the seventh grade
boy, who has been one of the regular troublemakers in the class, smarts off to
the teacher, the teacher grabs the student by the arm, leads him into the
hallway, and gives the student a good, old-fashioned paddling.  The other students hear the noise coming
from the hall, see the boy come back into class crying, and decide that
behaving might be a better option in the future.

All
is well until the boy goes home, tells his father (who is an attorney) about
the paddling and dad calls you, the principal, and threatens to sue the
teacher, you, and the school system if the teacher is not fired immediately,
and tells you that you must inform the PSC.

What are
the ethical and legal ramifications of this incident?

Since the
principal was not only aware of the teacher’s poor disciplinary skills
but also aware of the loss of control in the teacher’s classroom, the
administration should have worked with the teacher to develop a plan of action
to remedy the situation.  Professional
development related to classroom management could have provided the teacher
with strategies to correct the out of control classroom.  Simply telling the teacher to get things
under control does not fulfill the responsibility of an administrator and can
consequently lead to greater concerns and more difficult situations.  The principal was not fulfilling his
ethical obligations to his faculty member or to the students.

From the
information presented in the scenario and Georgia Code 20-2-731 and 20-2-732,
the teacher did not meet all of the requirements set forth to administer
corporal punishment to a student.
The teacher evidently used corporal punishment as a first line of
punishment to regain control of his classroom.  Since it is not stated in the scenario
that the teacher used some other discipline measure with the boy prior to the
paddling, the teacher fails to meet the requirement that corporal punishment
should never be used as a first consequent for misbehavior unless the student
is told beforehand that the behavior could lead to a paddling.  The teacher also failed to meet the
requirement that corporal punishment be administered in the presence of the
principal, the assistant principal or their designee after being informed in
the presence of the student of the reason for the paddling.

Other legal
ramifications are possible based on whether or not the father had requested a
written explanation of the reasons for the padding or had filed a medical
statement that corporal punishment should not be administered to the child.

How would you handle the situation?

I would first
interview the teacher and student to get all the pertinent information to
determine what requirements the teacher had failed to meet in administering
corporal punishment to the student.
Once this was established, I would follow the county policy on reporting
my findings to the designated county personnel and the PSC.  I would also follow the established
protocol on notifying the boy’s father of the investigation and its
results.

References

http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2003_04/gacode/20-2-731.html

http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2003_04/gacode/20-2-732.html