Corpun file 26666 at www.corpun.com

US News and World Report, Washington DC, 28 January 2018

Mississippi News

District Bans Paddling After Teacher Dragged Student by Hair

A Mississippi Delta school district is banning corporal punishment after a scandal over a teacher who dragged a student by the hair.

GREENVILLE, Miss. (AP) -- A Mississippi Delta school districtis banning corporal punishment after a scandal over a teacher whodragged a student by the hair.

The Greenville school board voted Tuesday to immediatelyforbid corporal punishment.

The Delta Democrat-Times reports the change came even though asurvey showed three quarters of parents and employees favored thecontinued use of spanking or paddling.

Superintendent Janice Page-Johnson originally asked the boardto change the policy to only allow administrators to paddle students.

The school board fired Superintendent Leeson Taylor in 2016after a video emerged of a teacher dragging a special educationstudent by the hair across the gym floor of Greenville High School.

Federal data show 5 percent of Mississippi students werepaddled in 2013-14, the highest percentage of any state allowingcorporal punishment.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rightsreserved.