Image Credit: Wesley Fryer / CC
The Tennessee Conservative [By Rebecca Scott] –
The investigation continues into excessive corporal punishment administered to a Dodson Branch Elementary School student.
Dodson Branch teacher, Jackson Patterson, who administered the paddling, and Assistant Principal Tena Lynn, who witnessed the punishment, have been arrested and charged with simple assault and criminal responsibility of assault respectively.
While many believe paddling is an archaic approach to school discipline that can easily cross lines of appropriateness, there are still 23 of the 50 states that do not prohibit corporal punishment in schools. The state of Tennessee does not expressly prohibit these types of punishments, but many counties in the state have already banned corporal punishment practices.
Governor Bill Lee signed a law in the spring of 2023 prohibiting the administration of corporal punishment to students with disabilities unless a district has specific discipline policies and procedures in place and the parents of a student receiving punishment have given written permission for their child to be disciplined in this way.
Many counties in Tennessee that do allow paddling also have a long list of “lesser” discipline practices that must be followed before ever resorting to corporal punishment.
The United States Secretary of Education, Miguel A. Cardona, discourages corporal punishment practices.
In a recent policy letter Cardona stated, “Our nation’s schools should make every effort to provide children and youth with safe and supportive environments that protect and enhance their physical, emotional and mental well-being. Unfortunately, some schools continue to put the mental and physical well-being of students at risk by implementing the practice of corporal punishment, defined by the U.S. Department of Education as the practice of paddling, spanking or otherwise imposing physical punishment on students… I urge you to move swiftly toward condemning and eliminating it.”
In the Dodson Branch Elementary case the student had extensive bruising from back to thighs and allegedly had a broken tailbone. The student had been paddled twice by Patterson with Lynn present as the required witness to corporal punishment. The child subsequently complained of pain and required examination by a medical professional.
Further developments in the case have not currently been released as the investigation is ongoing.
While Principal Brian Lee could not specifically comment on the investigation, he has expressed appreciation for and commitment to both the teachers and students of Dodson Branch Elementary School.
Rebecca Scott is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Rebecca at Rebecca@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
6 Responses
Lock them up. That’s what’s done to parents who administer corporal punishment to their child. It’s called child abuse.
“Abuse” depends on who does it and how it’s done. Lack of butt whooping is the reason this country is infested with useless little miscreants running amok in the schools and streets.
Where are the pictures of Patterson and Lynn?
Also, no one cares what Miguel Cardona has to say. All Biden cabinet members are Marxist pigs.
We got licks in front of 34 other students, it served two purposes, taught them the same was waiting for other miscreants, and provided 34 witnesses for the teacher.
My own personal opinion is that there are too many crazies in the world to entrust my child’s discipline to a member of staff of a public school. As you can see, there are many deviants out there that could get off on beating a child with a paddle. If a child does something that is so outrageous that their parents want them beaten then they need to come to the school and do it themselves.. The principal can call and have a parent come to the school and either remove the child for the day so they can be spanked at home or the parent can spank their child at school with witnesses present. To me that is safer than allowing another person to hit your child. I was raised in a public school and I was spanked for stupid things like reading out loud in the first grade. I was just jerked out of my chair and hit repeatedly. My parents didn’t seem to care one way or the other who hit me. Did it teach me discipline? No not at all. It taught me to hate school even more than I already did.. If children are misbehaving at school, I suspect there is a problem at home since discipline starts in the home.. I don’t know how old the child is in Dodson branch, but you have to hit a kid pretty hard to break their tail bone. And just about anywhere in any situation if you were to take a board like they have in the schools and start beating your child with it, your child would likely be removed from your care. But for some reason it’s legal for someone who works for the public school to take a a one by four solid board and swing it God knows how hard and hit a child with it? If a teacher or another adult had ever laid a hand on one of my kids, it would’ve been the last child they ever hit! We live in a very different world today where we hear stories every day of perverts right here in Tennessee raping School Children.why anyone would think they could trust the judgment of someone just because they’re called teacher, principal or vice principal is beyond me.
I think Tennessee should prohibit all corporal punishment, including in the home. What it says in the Bible about ”spoiling the child,” doesn’t mean anything about getting physical with kids. There’s something in the Bible after that part that says to let the kids go to God. So, if you didn’t know about that before, then well, you know about it if now. And if you don’t believe that, then you just believe in a bunch of hogwash. This is why suicide exists. The kids would rather kill themselves, than be hurt by any adults. If you truly, honestly don’t want any kids to commit suicide, then you need to quit using things that would ever make those kids want want to do that, including using violence. Kids are human, just like adults. So, kids have rights just as much as adults do. Kids need to be protected, not hurt. Kids need safety, not violence. Kids are fragile, like glass. Just like adults care much about their glass items that they don’t want any of them to break, adults should care about kids so much that those adults don’t want any of the kids to get hurt. Kids need adults to set a good example for them, not a bad example for them. So, if any adults physically hurt any kids, the adults are only setting a bad example for the kids. If the adults don’t physically hurt any kids, then the adults are setting a good example for the kids. So, if the adults truly, honestly don’t want to set a bad example for the kids and want to only set good examples for the kids, then it’s time those adults permanently switched over from: getting physical with kids, to just simply punching pillows. That way, nobody is getting hurt. This is why you need to it it don’t act, especially the kids. Kids always copy what they see, because they’re young and their brains aren’t fully developed yet. You need to be patient with all kids, give them some time, and then give yourselves some time. You cannot control your kid(s) your student(s), or anyone else around you. No one can control anyone, other than themselves. So, it’s time Tennessee permanently switched over from: using corporal punishment (and all other forms of violence), to just simply punching pillows at home and giving detention in schools. Kids need: empathy, love, care, peace, trust, comfort, and respect.