The suit remains against Hancock County Board of Education chairman Ernest Carswell individually for paddling a middle school student in February 1999.
State law requires either a teacher or a principal to administer corporal punishment.
And Hancock County school system's policy requires principals and teachers to have prior consent from parents to paddle a student, Mann told the court. Carswell is neither a teacher nor a principal and did not have parental consent, she said. But Amy Snell, representing the school system and Carswell, argued that board of education members may be entitled to the same consideration as teachers and principals. The suit was filed in October 1999, claiming that the school system is liable for Carswell's negligent actions, that Carswell was negligent in failing to follow state and local guidelines on corporal punishment, and that Carswell intentionally inflicted emotional distress on the student. The student is seeking unspecified punitive damages, compensatory damages and damages for pain and suffering.