FILE:  JDA

Cf:  GAMC

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT

The Orleans Parish School Board shall prohibit the use of any form of corporal punishment on its students.  Thus, neither the principal nor any member of the school staff or other Orleans Parish School Board employee has the authority or discretion to use any form of corporal punishment against a student.

Corporal punishment means using physical force to discipline a student, with or without an object to cause pain or discomfort.  It includes a wide variety of methods such as hitting, slapping, punching, kicking, pinching, shaking, choking, use of various objects (wooden paddles, belts, sticks, pins, or others), painful body postures, use of electric shock, use of excessive exercise drills, withholding meals, or preventing restroom use.  It also includes use of seclusion, i.e., locked isolation, and inappropriate physical restraint, i.e., restraint by individuals who are not Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) certified or by those implementing inappropriate CPI protocol. 

Corporal punishment does not include the use of reasonable and necessary physical restraint of a student to protect the student or others from bodily harm or to obtain possession of a weapon or other dangerous object from a student or the use of seclusion and restraint as provided in La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §17:416.21.

Revised: July 25, 2024

Ref:    U.S. Constitution, Amend. XIII

U.S. Constitution, Amend. XIV, Sec. 1

La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§17:81.6, 17:223, 17:235.1, 17:416, 17:416.1

Baker v. Owen, 96 S. Ct. 210 affirming 395 F. Supp. 294 (M.D.N.C., 1975)

Ingraham v. Wright, 97 S. Ct. 1401, (1977)

Board minutes, 7-25-24

Orleans Parish School Board