BILL TO OK PADDLING IN SCHOOL RESISTED.

Byline: Alicia Doyle Daily News Staff Writer

A recent push by a state lawmaker to bring back corporal punishment in schools has local students and educators concerned that such discipline could do harm in the classroom.

Assemblyman Mickey Conroy, R-Orange, is sponsoring a bill that would allow school districts to use paddling as a disciplinary measure if a child's parents give written consent. California banned corporal punishment in 1987.

"We are telling California's youth that they will be accountable for their actions," Conroy said. "Currently, students know that they can get away with almost anything in school without fear of punishment. This can have tragic results when that attitude is carried into the adult world and these students begin breaking the law."

But school officials in eastern Ventura County and western Los Angeles County are apprehensive about changing the law, saying paddling sets a violent precedent and would raise several liability questions.

"Creating an element of fear in the schools is certainly something we wish to avoid," said Mary Beth Wolford, superintendent of the Simi Valley Unified School District. "That's not the appropriate direction to move in to create safer schools for our children."

Moorpark High School Principal John McIntosh said bringing corporal punishment back actually could promote violence.

"We're becoming more and more violent as a society," McIntosh said. "If you inflict pain as a consequence, that, essentially, is promoting violence."

McIntosh said other forms of punishment could be more effective. For example, banning a student from a school dance or football game could have a stronger effect than swatting them.

Jerry Gross, superintendent of the Conejo Valley Unified School District, said allowing instructors to strike a student brings up the question of district liability if the student were injured.

"First of all, there's a big question of whether a school district should be in the business of hitting a child and the psychology that goes with modeling a violent behavior. But, most important, there is the issue of liability for the school district," Gross said.

"Is this the most effective way for us to control behavior? I think that is something that's up to the parent," he said.

When Jim Christianson, principal at Agoura High School, joined the Las Virgenes Unified School District in the early 1970s, the district had chosen not to endorse corporal punishment even though it was allowed under state law. He said children's behavior is governed more by their home life than by the punishment a school district hands out.

"Those who are going to misbehave are going to do so regardless. Kids are going to behave the way they were raised, regardless of the consequences," he said.

Diane Collins, a member of the Simi Valley Unified School District's Board of Education, said nothing positive could come from bringing corporal punishment back into the classroom.

"I just can't visualize how we could go back to that," Collins said. "Knowing what we know now about raising children, and what's good for our children, I just can't picture it."

Conroy, however, said reinstating corporal punishment tells "students from day one that they will be held responsible for their actions. It is hoped that they will change their patterns before they start committing adult offenses."

Jeremy Beck, a Simi Valley High School senior, pointed out that bringing back corporal punishment to the classroom could be dangerous for teachers.

"It's kind of dangerous nowadays, with kids bringing guns and weapons to school," he said. "You never know if a kid could pop off."

The school spanking bill defines corporal punishment as a "moderate use of physical force by a teacher or principal as may be necessary to maintain discipline," Conroy said.

Currently, 23 states have corporal punishment as an option for school districts. States that use the discipline most include Texas, Florida, Alabama and Arkansas.

Conroy's bill is identical to a Florida statute that went before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1977.

In that case, the courts ruled that Florida's statute allowing corporal punishment did not violate the 8th Amendment's protection against cruel and unusual punishment, nor did it violate the 14th Amendment's clause protecting due process.

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Photo (SIMI only) Diane Collins Simi board member objects