A Missouri School District Returns to Spanking Students For Discipline

The Cassville Missouri School District has reinstated corporal punishment. The current superintendent, Merlyn Johnson, said several parents requested that the district start spanking children again. Physical punishment is still legal in 19 US states. However, in Missouri, parents must sign a waiver allowing their child to be physically disciplined.

The Cassville District will only use physical redirection after other methods of discipline have failed. There must always be a witness present, and no bodily harm can result from the punishment.

In 1977, the US Supreme Court ruled in the Ingraham v. Wright decision that corporal punishment is constitutional and would allow each state to decide to use it or not. Most of the states that still allow this form of discipline are southern states.

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