Crawfordsville Community Schools has updated its corporal punishment policy to prohibit administrators from paddling students.
The school board approved the change last week even as the form of discipline, which Indiana and 18 other states still allow in public schools, had already become a relic of the past in Crawfordsville.
“We don’t have a current administrator who has ever administered corporal punishment,” assistant superintendent Dr. Rex Ryker said following the meeting.
The practice gained national attention earlier this month when a Florida elementary school principal paddled a 6-year-old girl in front of her mother for allegedly damaging a computer. Authorities cleared the principal of wrongdoing.
Lawmakers rejected a bill that would have banned corporal punishment in Louisiana’s public schools. Writing in USA Today, a nonprofit child protection organization called for a federal ban.
In a separate move, the board revised the district’s transfer students policy to allow administrators to consider a child’s attendance record in accepting or denying a request. The policy was also changed to prioritize the children of staff members over other students.
The board also awarded Frankfort-based Hinshaw Roofing an approximately $114,000 bid for a roofing project at the Paul L. Pfledderer Career & Technical Center. The work is scheduled to be complete by October and vocational classes will continue during the project, Ryker said.
In personnel matters, the board accepted the retirements of Kelly Harmon, Hose Elementary nurse, and Rhonda Nicholas, Hoover Elementary library aide.
The resignations of Eddie Guanajuato, middle and high school band director; Jamie Fall, speech and hearing at Willson; and Blair Wade, Nicholson Elementary third grade teacher were also accepted.
The board approved the hiring of Brad Clark, high school business teacher, and Jared Kaminski, high school chemistry and physics teacher.
Two employees are taking on new positions. High school technology education teacher Darrin Wilcoxson will become the school’s technology coordinator and Dion Gobel, an interschool mail and lunch van employee, will move to a driver position.
