Corporal Punishment Continues To Decline In NC Public Schools

The use of corporal punishment continues to decline in North Carolina's public schools, according to the latest public data.

Corporal punishment last year happened half as often as the previous year, and swats were meted out in just four school districts.

A report issued to the State Board of Education on Thursday updates corporal punishment use in the state's 115 school districts.

The report says during the school year ending last May, 66 students were paddled a total of 73 times. Almost half those cases were reported by Robeson County, with the rest coming from schools in Graham, Macon and Wilson counties. Roughly half the cases involved American Indian children, while white students made up most of the rest.

Paddling students as a form of discipline has fallen by more than 90 percent since the start of the decade.