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Robeson County Announces Moratorium On Corporal Punishment

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LUMBERTON, N.C. — The Robeson County school system is instituting a moratorium on the use of corporal punishment in the wake of a paddling incident involving a seventh-grader.

A national organization against corporal punishment in public schools on Monday asked the Robeson County school board to consider alternatives. Members of the organization, Parents and Teachers Against Violence In Education, said the method is dangerous.

School board Chairman Mike Smith says officials plan to review the system's policy and determine whether they want to continue with corporal punishment. No date has been set for lifting the moratorium.

The seventh-grader had bruises on his buttocks after being paddled last month. The boy's mother questioned whether the teacher used excessive force to discipline her son, but District Attorney Johnson Britt decided not to pursue charges against the teacher because corporal punishment was not used to intentionally hurt.

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