Guest Post: Tennessee Lawmakers Must Abolish School Corporal Punishment
This guest post comes to us from a staunch advocate in support of removing corporal punishment as an option for discipline under state education laws. Julie Worley is President of Tennesseans for Non-Violent School Discipline. Her full bio follows the op-ed.
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Tennesseans for Non-Violent School Discipline hosted a National Protest Against School Corporal Punishment of Students at the Tennessee State Capitol on Thursday, April 5, 2012.
Tennessee is one of 19 U.S. States that allow disciplinary beating of schoolchildren K-12 by teachers, coaches and administrators in 2012 without parental consent or notification, with no safety standards to protect students from injuries. Tennessee students are treated differently based on where they live.
School corporal punishment is disproportionately applied to boys, minority, disabled and low-income students.
April is “National Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness Month” and the rally was to raise awareness of the harmful and abusive practice of “School Corporal Punishment” while calling on Tennessee lawmakers to take action to abolish school corporal punishment in the state of Tennessee, already prohibited in Nashville schools and schools in 31 U.S. states, to ensure EQUAL access to safe and healthy learning environments for ALL