The materials and opinions expressed in the following links are not necessarily those of Action for Children North Carolina. Action for Children does not endorse specific organizations, events, individuals, curricula or best practices implementation.
School Safety
Action for Children works to ensure that school environments are healthy and safe by advocating for a statewide ban on hitting children in our public schools.
Action for Children works to ensure that every child in the state attends a school that is free from fear, intimidation and violence. Academic success depends on the ability of schools to provide safe and civil learning environments for their students.
Action for Children believes that corporal punishment (hitting children) is an inappropriate disciplinary technique for use in schools and advocates for its prohibition. Evidence shows that corporal punishment teaches the use of violence as a problem-solving technique and that it is not an effective disciplinary measure in the longer term. Until corporal punishment is banned, state law should be amended to allow parents the right to opt out of the use of corporal punishment on their children in school.
Legislative Information:
Bills to ban or limit corporal punishment in the public schools were filed every year from 2007 through 2011. In 2010, legislation was passed to allow parents with children with disabilities to opt their children out of corporal punishment. The 2011 legislature passed a parental opt-out bill for ALL parents. Just over 30 districts still allow corporal punishment, and those districts are now required to send opt-out forms at the beginning of each school year to all parents. The law is already having the intended effect of encouraging school districts to just ban corporal punishment themselves -- more and more districts are banning the practice every week, since the end of the 2011 legislative session.
Action for Children is currently working with local school systems and other advocates to ban corporal punishment district-by-district. Click here to learn more.
More Information
