KCBD NewsChannel 11 LubbockLubbock educator under investigation for corporal punishment

A Lubbock ISD employee has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into the use of corporal punishment.

The parent, Martha Gonzales, claims the employee used excessive force and left her special needs son with black and blue bruises on his bottom.

The incident happened Monday at Dunbar Preparatory Academy. LISD says the investigation has determined that the campus administrator was acting with parental consent. Gonzales says she authorized the school to spank her son, not to bruise him. She says the discipline went too far.

"I was just thinking, how can they do this to my child and how many children have they done it to that no one has reported?" Gonzales said.

Gonzales says 11-year-old Isaiah was disturbing the class and called his teacher a name. School officials called to get her consent for the spanking. Gonzales says that was the only option they presented.

"My son said that they had two boards in his office. He said one was taped up because it was broken and the principal went to another office to get a board and he used that board," Gonzales said.

This isn't the first time Isaiah has been spanked at school. It happened once before, but Gonzales says not to this degree.

Gonzales says as soon as her son showed her the bruises, she took him to the emergency room. That's when doctors took pictures and Children's Protective Services launched their own investigation.

Gonzales wants to know is why Isaiah was hit so hard. She says one of the principals offered this explanation: "He said your child is light complected, so there are chances that he bruises easy. Due to him being light completed, all I can do at this point is apologize on the other principal's behalf," Gonzales said.

The district's website outlines their policy. It says "principals must consider the age, size, condition of the student, part of the body to be struck and the amount of force to be used before a student is punished. Gonzales says they didn't do that.

"The principal was about 270 pounds, my son is very small about 70 pounds," Gonzales said.

In a statement released to KCBD Thursday, LISD says "corporal punishment, although available as an option, it is not regarded as a first-use disciplinary tool."

This tool is something Gonzales says she will no longer use.

"I will take care of the discipline and if need be we can look at suspension or detention," Gonzales said.

Frenship and Lubbock-Cooper ISD do not allow corporal punishment.

We also talked to a counselor at Family Counseling Services. Sarah Stoune says spanking can be a legitimate form of punishment, but you have to be careful.

"If you are going to use spanking, use your hand. That way you know if you are using your hand and it's hurting you, it's going to hurt your bottom," Stoune said.

Lubbock ISD released this statement to KCBD:

The Lubbock Independent School District has placed an employee of Dunbar College Preparatory Academy on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into the employee's use of corporal punishment on Monday, January 9.

Concerns related to this incident were first brought to the attention of the district on Wednesday evening, January 11.

At this point in the investigation it has been determined that the campus administrator was acting with parental consent. 

As a personnel matter, all other information associated with this investigation is considered confidential.

Corporal punishment, while available as an option, is not regarded as a first-use disciplinary tool in LISD.  There is a two-step process for parental consent.  Parents are first given the opportunity to sign an authorization for corporal punishment at the beginning of school. If and when corporal punishment is actually considered as an option for their child, a phone call is then made to confirm permission.

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