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Spanking in Missouri Schools is a Sore Spot for one State Rep.

January 31, 2005

Date:1/31/05

By: Bente Birkeland

State Capital Bureau

If your child misbehaves in school, they might just get a spanking, but one state Representative wants that to change.

Bente (BEN-teh) Birkeland has more from Jefferson City.

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Missouri is one of 22 states that allows teachers to spank disobedient children.

Representative Barbara Fraser, is a Democrat from St. Louis County. She is introducing a bill to ban corporal punishment in schools. Fraser says corporal punishment usually refers to spanking a child on the buttocks with a paddle.

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"The procedure is all the way across the board. We have others who say you can use corporal punishment to maintain order in a school, that could be almost anything."

Fraser says she's concerned that schools are teaching children it's alright to resolve problems with violence.

She says roughly 1/3 of Missouri's school districts allow corporal punishment.

Proponents of the current policy says spanking is used as a last resort and is an effective disciplinary tool.

From the state Capitol, I'm Bente Birkeland

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The debate on spanking in Missouri's schools is a sore spot for one state Representative.

Bente (BEN teh) Birkeland has more from Jefferson City.

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In roughly 1/3 of Missouri school districts teachers can spank disobedient children. Proponents of the policy say spanking is a last resort but it's still an effective disciplinary tool.

Rep. Barbara Fraser, a Democrat from St. Louis county says she thinks the practice is inhumane.

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" We don't allow striking a person in prison we don't allow striking in the military or in hospitals or in social services. Foster parents may not strike their children yet a foster child could be struck by a teacher."

Missouri is one of 22 states that allows teachers to spank children. Rep. Fraser introduced a bill to ban the use of corporal punishment in Missouri schools.

From the state Capitol, I'm Bente Birkeland

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A new bill aims to stop spanking in Missouri schools.

Bente (BEN teh) Birkeland reports from Jefferson City.

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Spanking, or corporal punishment refers to using a paddle to strike a child on the buttocks.

Like 21 other states, Missouri allows teachers to spank disobedient children.

Representative Fraser, a Democrat from St. Louis County, wants that practice to stop.

She say it's not effective.

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" The schools have poorer academic achievement more truancy, more violence because you're having the adults who you respect use violence to discipline the students"

Roughly 1/3 of Missouri school districts allow spanking. Proponents of the policy say it's used as a last resort and it's a necessary disciplinary tool.

From the state Capitol, I'm Bente Birkeland