EKB News

A Johnson County principal was arrested last week after a parent obtained a warrant for assault charges against him. 43 year old Ben Hamilton principal of Central Elementary is now under investigation after the incident, in which the father of a 5th grader complained that his son had welts on his backside days after receiving the paddling at school. Roger McGuire, the boy’s father says that Hamilton crossed the line in administering the corporal punishment, even though McGuire had given his permission to have his son spanked. The incident brings corporal punishment, which is only allowed in 50 school districts in the state, back into the media spotlight. Corporal punishment in schools has been illegal in most of the world for several decades. After the Canadian Supreme Court outlawed the use of the strap by teachers, only the United States and a lone state in Australia allowed corporal punishment in the industrialized world; however most urban public school systems have banned corporal punishment. In Johnson County and most other districts that still allow it, parental permission is required and punishment must be administered in private, with a witness. Hamilton was not arrested after the incident but was summoned to appear in court on January 8th. The Johnson County School district says that they’re currently investigating.