As of Nov. 2, all Kentucky school boards approved a new policy banning corporal punishment in schools.
Jennifer Ginn, a spokesperson for the Kentucky Department of Education, confirmed the ban on Nov. 2. Corporal punishment, which includes the practice of paddling, has been a controversial subject in Kentucky’s school administration.
On Aug. 30, an administrative regulation went into effect which required school districts to create a new policy on corporal punishment in schools, according to a press release from Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky (PCAK). The Kentucky General Assembly has yet to place a ban on corporal punishment in schools, but the administrative regulation and new policies had the same effect.
The PCAK press release included a statement from Alex Young, a student at University of Notre Dame. Young began a push to end corporal punishment in Kentucky middle schools after passing mock legislation on the topic for the Kentucky Youth Assembly. Young then worked with state legislators on a potential ban in 2017.
“Students in the commonwealth will be safer, no longer having to attend school in fear of being hit by trusted adults,” Young said in the PCAK press release. “I am grateful that school boards and district leaders across Kentucky are in agreement that the archaic and inappropriate practice of corporal punishment has no place in our schools.”
According to previous reporting from the Lexington Herald-Leader, corporal punishment incidents in Kentucky schools dropped from 317 across the 2016-17 school year to just 13 in the fall of 2021.
There were just five incidents during the 2022-23 school year, all of which took place in Pike County, according to the Kentucky Department of Education’s School Report Card, released on Oct. 30. In 2022, Pike County superintendent Reed Adkins told the Herald-Leader that he advises against the use of corporal punishment.
“Ending corporal punishment in schools is an issue we have been strong advocates for going back many years,” Jill Seyfred, director of Prevent Child Abuse America, said in the press release. “It is encouraging that every Kentucky school will now be free of this harmful practice and will provide healthier, safer environments for all children.”