- In 1977 the United States Supreme Court declared that corporal punishment in schools is constitutional.

Children in a classroom, file image. / Freepik

A school district recovers the whipping of students for being 'constitutional' and asks for signed authorizations from parents

Spanking returns this school year to the classrooms of Cassville, a town of 3,000 inhabitants in the state of Missouri, in the United States, where the district has announced that it will allow corporal punishment for any rebellious student whose parents give their authorization, as reported by the CNN network.

This week, schools informed parents of the new policy at an open meeting and gave them consent forms to sign, according to a parent who attended the meeting.

"At the end of the day, this gives the school one more tool to discipline a child, without having to send them home suspended where they would just play video games," said Dylan Burns, 28, a local farmer who agrees with the new measure.

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"Constitutional" punishment

Spanking was widely used during the 19th and 20th centuries in American schools to discipline children. In 1977 the Supreme Court of the United States declared that corporal punishment in schools is constitutional and thus gave the states the possibility to decide whether or not to prohibit this practice. In most of them, it's illegal, but 19 states still allow it, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

The Cassville school district, made up of 1,900 students, formally adopted the policy in June. However, they clarify that corporal punishment is an option "only when all other alternative means of discipline have failed" and must be administered without any "possibility of injury or bodily harm". Additionally, the district explains that "hitting a student in the head or face is not permitted."

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