Tyler

By MEGAN MIDDLETON
Staff Writer

Tyler ISD trustees voted to keep corporal punishment as a disciplinary technique that can be used in the district and rejected a recommendation from the administration to remove it as an option.

Six trustees voted to keep corporal punishment, while one ultimately voted against keeping the policy.

No citizens spoke on the corporal punishment issue or any other issue during the public participation portion of the meeting.

Trustee Therelee Washington made the motion to reject the administration's recommendation and to instead keep the district's current corporal punishment policy. Trustee the Rev. Orenthia Mason seconded the motion.

"Because it's there and schools have the authority to use it might be a thing that prevents kids from doing a lot of things," Washington said. "Personally I don't see the need to take it out � We haven't had any complaints about corporal punishment in Tyler."

Washington also quoted surveys he said stated most parents support keeping corporal punishment as an option and noted many phone calls he has received from parents who want to see it remain.

The current policy for TISD states that, "for campuses that utilize corporal punishment (paddling), parents/legal guardians shall be required to return student enrollment and contact information each year and indicate they do or do not want their child to be subject to corporal punishment (paddling)."

School officials said the policy essentially requires parents to "opt in" to allowing their child to be subject to corporal punishment before it can be considered as an option.

But the proposed policy the administration was recommending would have abolished corporal punishment as an option all together. The proposed policy stated, "The Board prohibits the use of corporal punishment in the District. Students shall not be spanked, paddled, or otherwise physically disciplined for violations of the Student Code of Conduct or other disciplinary rules."

In bringing the proposal forward for the board to consider, TISD Superintendent Dr. Randy Reid said the issue of corporal punishment came up a few years ago and the board at that time decided to change how it was implemented and allow parents to "opt in" as opposed to "opt out."

Reid said the board had asked that the administration continue to monitor the use of corporal punishment and provide reports to the board.

Reid said the administration has been monitoring it and said the use of corporal punishment in the district has been diminishing annually. He said three campuses used it sparingly last year.

Deputy Superintendent Cecil McDaniel told the board that the use of corporal punishment is a declining trend nationwide and said TISD used it less than half a percent.

"What we're finding is that it's not the most effective means to discipline students," McDaniel said. "When you engage children in good, solid instruction, the disciplinary and behavior issues tend to decrease."

McDaniel also said there are other measures to deal with discipline and said schools can report back to parents about their child's behavior.

"If they (parents) choose to use corporal punishment that's certainly an option they can exercise, but we really want to focus on the education of the children," he said.

But Washington said he has received lots of phone calls in regard to the district considering removing the policy.

"The parents are saying, 'why are we removing it?'" he said. "A lot of the parents want it to stay. We haven't had parents complaining about it. We're saying we want to take it out because everybody else is taking it out."

Reid said of the three campuses that used corporal punishment, there were 61 administrations of it, representing about .003 percent of students. He pointed out, though, that in some of those cases the spanking was administered multiple times to the same child, which he said is an indication it is not having the "intended impact."

"I've been in education 27 years and I've never paddled a child, and we have found other ways to discipline kids and believe there are other ways that we can manage effective behavior of children," he said.

Washington said he has been in education 37 years and used corporal punishment "very, very much" and was successful in the disciplinary problems he had.

"I'm not here to debate the issue," he added. "What I'm here to tell the board is why would we remove something that the parents want. If it's not broke, don't try to fix it."

Ms. Mason said during the discussion that she hopes TISD still honors parents' requests of what they do not want to happen to their students, but also hopes somewhere the district offers some alternative.

She noted that corporal punishment should be a last resort and used sparingly, if at all.

She also expressed concern about the classroom environment and indicated she wanted it to be an environment where all students can receive an excellent education.

Board Vice President Michelle Carr voted against keeping the policy allowing corporal punishment.

"I don't believe corporal punishment has any place in our schools," Ms. Carr said after the board meeting. "I agree with the administration's recommendation. I think there are a lot of other more effective tools to discipline our children. We have less than a half a percent of our children being the recipients of it. I'm very uncomfortable with it."

Ms. Carr said it is mostly minority students who have corporal punishment administered to them.

"I think there's a lack of equity," she said. "Most principals are extremely uncomfortable with it and don't want it to be any part of their program."

Reid said after the meeting that, "It's the will of the board, and we'll move forward with it. I personally don't agree, but � it's been a policy that we've been able to operate with without any problems in the past, so I don't see any reason we would have any problems with it in the future."

The removal of corporal punishment was one of the proposed changes to the Student Code of Conduct. Before approving the Student Code of Conduct Tuesday night, trustees amended the motion to keep the current corporal punishment policy.

The Student Code of Conduct that trustees approved does include a change to the possession of telecommunication device section to include all electronic communications devices.

The board also approved a policy change related to compensation and benefits and another related to transfers but tabled a separate policy revision related to transfers because of a change in its wording.

Trustees also approved interlocal agreements between the Smith County Juvenile Board and TISD as well as Smith County school districts and TISD.

Beginning in the 2008-09 school year, TISD will be responsible for educational services provided to students/residents detained in the Smith County Secured Detention Center, according to TISD agenda information.

In the past, TISD has had an agreement with the Smith County Juvenile Board, which provided educational services for TISD and the other school districts in the county. But in April, TISD was notified that the Smith County Juvenile Services Detention Center would no longer provide educational services to detained students, according to TISD information.

Because of the change, TISD will provide a full-time teacher and aide to serve students detained in the Smith County Secured Detention Center, according to TISD information.

Reid said the district where the jail resides is legally responsible for this by law. TISD will be reimbursed by school districts based on their utilization, although TISD will see some increase in cost because of the change, Reid said.

This agreement is separate from the recent issue Reid has gone before the juvenile board to discuss regarding which expelled students the juvenile board will accept into the Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program (JJAEP) and the increased cost school districts have been asked to pay Smith County for it accepting "discretionary" students into the program.

Also Tuesday, the board OK'd the purchase of 10 new school buses -- seven transit buses and three special needs buses for a total of about $882,000. The district is proposing to include outside storage on the seven transit buses to help reduce the amount of charter bus expenses.

The purchase of the buses is done in accordance with the district's 15-year cycle for replacement of route buses, according to TISD information.

The money for the buses will come from the extra $2.8 million TISD recently received from the state because of a recalculation in target revenue from the 2006-07 school year.

The board also approved: Suddenlink contract, renewal of concession agreement with high school booster clubs, sale of property for delinquent taxes; shelter agreement between TISD and the American Red Cross, Smith County Chapter; annual performance review of High School Allotment; interlocal agreement with Andrews Center; purchase of the Naglieri 2 for gifted and talented screening. The board also had its first reading of a policy change related to procedures for final exam exemptions.

Trustees also approved gifts and donations, including $40,000 from Region VII Educational Service Center for technology services.