FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Kentucky Board of Education has introduced regulations restricting corporal punishment in schools. The goal is to move toward eliminating the practice, but education leaders say that has been easier said than done.

Corporal punishment is defined as the deliberate infliction of physical pain by any means upon the whole or any part of a student’s body as a penalty or punishment for student misbehavior.

While most Kentucky schools have banned the practice, it’s still legal in the state, based on a 1982 law. KRS 503.110 permits the use of corporal punishment by teachers for the purpose of maintaining classroom discipline.

Department of Education Commissioner Dr. Jason Glass called the practice “barbaric.”

“Sometimes we get asked why isn’t the state board of education just moving to outright ban or eliminate corporal punishment, and that’s certainly something that I would advocate for, and something I think most of the members of the state board, if not all of them, would take that position as well. But it is an allowable practice under state law. The board of education doesn’t have the authority to overturn state law,” Glass said.

Only four Kentucky school districts still have permissive corporal punishment policies:

• Bell County
• Hazard Independent
• Perry County
• Raceland-Worthington Independent

11 districts have no corporal punishment policies:

• Allen County
• Butler County
• Caverna Independent
• Elliott County
• Grayson County
• Henderson County
• Hopkins County
• Lewis County
• Lincoln County
• Nelson County
• Todd County

All of the other 154 districts have banned it. 

Glass added that much more is known about the practice and its potential to cause harm and trauma for students now than back in the 1980s, and that it's "embarrassing" that it still exists in Kentucky.

“t can create long term harm and trauma for students and for staff members who administer it. So because we now know that, we now know better. It really compels us to think about, can we do better? And by doing better, we should eliminate this practice in the state of Kentucky," Glass said.

The regulatory process could take up to nine months to finish, so it wouldn’t go into place until next school year at the earliest, Glass said.

Should the regulation go through, schools will have to get written consent from a student’s legal guardian to use corporal punishment on them. That consent must come in the first five days of the school year. 

Before using corporal punishment, schools would again have to receive verbal consent from the guardian. Students who receive corporal punishment would also receive at least 30 minutes of counseling.

Per the regulation, notwithstanding the provisions of KRS 503.070 and KRS 503.050, prior to administering corporal punishment to a pupil, the school shall attempt to remedy problematic behavior through other nonphysical means. The language also states corporal punishment may only be administered by the principal or assistant principal, and corporal punishment shall only be administered in the presence of at least one additional certified staff member who is the same gender as the student.

The new regulation would require districts to define their policies, and how they would enforce them, such as the instruments they would use. They would not be allowed to use anything defined as a deadly weapon in the state.

“We’re asking districts to define what instrument they’re going to beat their children with, which is a terrible thing to have to ask districts to do, but again, it’s an allowable practice in Kentucky, so we’re seeking to limit that,” Glass said.

While bills have been introduced to the Kentucky legislature to ban the practice, they’ve never gained enough traction to pass into law. State Rep. Steve Riley introduced a bill last session.

Kentucky Youth Advocates Executive Director Terry Brooks, who spent 25 years as a school administrator, explained why he thinks the legislation hasn’t banned the practice.

“They are afraid politically to vote to eliminate it, because we still have a few, not many, but we still have a few districts that do it,” Brooks said. “It is still disappointing, puzzling, and amazing to me that we still do it. I mean it’s kind of like Cuba, Korea and Kentucky are about the only places left on earth where you can take an inanimate object and hit a kid in school.”

Brooks said he believes in holding students accountable, but doesn’t think corporal punishment is an effective way to do so.

“First of all, we have to ask what lesson does that teach a kid that a position of power allows you to use physical force to enforce your will? Second, we know that it is very trauma inducing,” he said. “The only rationale for administering corporal punishment is if that assistant principal needs some rush of testosterone to feel like a tough guy, or frankly if the administrator is just too lazy to get to the core of the issue.”

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry suggests that corporal punishment at school may be harmful to students and may increase problematic behaviors, create an inability to self-regulate, and make it difficult to develop trusting and secure relationships with adults.

Other national advocacy organizations that have taken a similar stance include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Congress of Parents and Teachers, the American Medical Association, the National Education Association, and the American Bar Association.

Glass gave another possible explanation as to why the practice hasn’t been eliminated.

“It’s not uncommon for people who have had corporal punishment administered to them, that have that kind of trauma themselves, for them to one to stand up for it, and actually want to inflict it on other people, and that’s part of how this kind of cycle of abuse continues," Glass added. "That’s what we want to put an end to."