Letter A
This letter was sent snail-mail on PTAVE stationery to selected recipients in North Carolina during the first week of January, 2008. Recipients, with links to their responses, are listed in the right-hand column below the photo.

Dear ______:

We are writing in the hope that you can clarify an area of ambiguity in the mandated reporting requirements of North Carolina as it applies to educators. If this matter is outside your purview, please direct us to the appropriate authority.

Background for our query is as follows:

On December 27, 2007, Peggy Dean, RN, who is a member of our Board of Directors, called the McDowell County Dept. of Social Services and described to an intake agent injuries to a child’s buttock area resulting from a battery inflicted by an adult on December 13, 2007. The agent confirmed that what Ms. Dean had described was indeed child abuse and challenged her as to why she had waited so long to report it. When Ms. Dean informed the agent that the alleged perpetrator is a school teacher, the agent indicated that her department has no authority to investigate such incidents.

Pursuing the matter with the Governor’s office, Ms. Dean was advised to call the McDowell County Safe Schools Coordinator who in turn referred her to Dr. Ira Trollinger, McDowell County Superintendent of Education. But when she reached Dr. Trollinger, he informed her that the only person who has standing to lodge a complaint in such circumstances is the parent of the involved child. This advice seemed to Ms. Dean to contradict her understanding of her legal obligation as a mandated reporter. In the course of their conversation, Dr. Trollinger asserted that there is a right way to corporally punish a child, but when Ms. Dean asked him to describe to her the “right way” and to cite any instruction on the subject he had received in the process of his training, he abruptly terminated the call.

We have written to the heads of several teacher training departments in major North Carolina universities asking if they offer candidates for teacher certification instruction in the correct way to corporally punish a student, or if their institution has ever offered such instruction. We are awaiting their replies. For your information, we are enclosing a page of photographs showing punishment-related injuries to schoolchildren — two of them from North Carolina.

Can you please advise us if there are certain classes of persons, such as school teachers, who are exempt from being reported under the mandated reporting requirement in North Carolina? Is there any language in the statute that calls for special treatment of school employees who are suspected of abusing students?

Thank you for your kind attention. We look forward to your response which we will share with our membership.

Sincerely,

Jordan Riak, Exec. Dir.
Parents and Teachers Against Violence in Education

Enclosure: http://www.nospank.net/injuredkids.pdf

Letter B
This letter was sent snail-mail on PTAVE stationery during the first week of January, 2008 to selected department heads in teacher-training programs in North Carolina.

Dear ______:

We are writing to inquire if candidates for teaching certification attending your program currently receive any instruction in the use of corporal punishment. If no such instruction is offered, do you know if it was in the past? If so, can you tell us the approximate dates?

Thank you for your kind assistance. If an email response is more convenient for you, write to riak@nospank.net .

Sincerely,

Jordan Riak, Exec. Dir.
Parents and Teachers Against Violence in Education (PTAVE)

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Letter C
Ban Corporal Punishment North Carolina: A petition to members of the North Carolina legislature sponsored by PTAVE. Read it here.

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Corporal Punishment in North Carolina Schools: Three Perspectives

1. Peggy Dean's letter to education policy makers in North Carolina, January 31, 2008
2. Rep. Cary Allred's letter to Peggy Dean, February 1, 2008
3. A page from nine-year-old Allie Majni's daily journal, January 11, 2008

Read them here.

Corporal punishment-related injury to a schoolchild enrolled in a public school in McDowell County, N.C. The incident occurred on December 13, 2007. Photo was supplied to PTAVE by the parent.