‘State-sanctioned violence:’ Inside one of the thousands of schools that still paddles students

At the beginning of every school year, April Johnson oversees distribution of the Covington County School District student handbook. Tucked into the first half of the handbook is a section titled “Corporal Punishment.”

This story also appeared in Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting
The handbook details how the punishment will be meted out: sensibly, “and applied only to the student’s buttocks in such a manner that there will be no permanent effects.”

It puts limits on the frequency: “No more than three licks and one paddling a day.”

Read more from The Hechinger Report

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