But at suburban West Mifflin Area Middle School, administrators have dished out 38 spankings since September. Many other districts permit paddling but insist that it is rarely used. Students who took a paddling felt they were getting off easy, says Gottardi. Young miscreants now get no choice about after-school detention and suspensions. Gottardi also makes sure parents are told when a child misbehaves.
Students find such tattletaling more obnoxious than a whack on the hind quarters.
I'll do anything. I make them sit there while I call. Like others who favor paddling, Ogden says it's a last resort. When gentle persuasion fails and lighter punishments do no good, then out comes the paddle. In Allentown last month, a teacher lined an entire seventh-grade class against the blackboard and paddled each student, according to the Morning Call.