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Parents, alumni push school to resume paddling

Peter Finney Jr. | Catholic News Service

NEW ORLEANS – For the past 60 years, teachers and
administrators at St. Augustine High School in New Orleans
have wielded an 18-inch-long wooden paddle – euphemistically
called “the board of education” – to administer corporal
punishment to students for tardiness, sloppy uniform dress or
other minor rules infractions.

When Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond and Josephite Father Edward
Chiffriller, his order’s superior general and head of the
school’s board of trustees, ordered the practice stopped
following an intensive review process, their decision was met
with outspoken opposition from parents, alumni, students, the
school’s board of directors, and both current and former
administrators.

That disagreement played out during a three-hour, 50-minute
“disciplinary town-hall meeting” at the St. Augustine gym.
About 600 people attended.

As Archbishop Aymond and members of the Josephites’ board of
trustees sat at a table and listened, speaker after speaker –
including Josephite Father John Raphael, St. Augustine’s
president – passionately explained why they supported the use
of corporal punishment and asked that the moratorium be
lifted.

St. Augustine is the only Catholic school in the United
States to have permitted corporal punishment as recently as
2010.

Father Raphael shared historical references to the school’s
founding principal, Josephite Father Matthew O’Rourke, who
instituted paddling in 1951 as a deterrent to unacceptable
behavior. He even introduced his parents, who were sitting in
the audience, and praised them for spanking him as a child as
a way of instruction.

Father Raphael made a point of telling the crowd that Father
Chiffriller, his religious superior, had given a speech at
the 50th anniversary of the school in 2001 on the historic
value of the paddle as a deterrent.

When it was his turn to speak, Father Chiffriller said, “In
light of the archbishop’s concern and the Josephites’ own
internal concerns, the board of trustees reviewed the
practice of corporal punishment and determined that its
continued use is simply inconsistent with our Catholic
ideals, ethics and principles.”

Of the more than two dozen alumni, parents and students who
spoke, none expressed opposition to the paddling policy.

While calling the issue “complicated,” Archbishop Aymond did
not retreat from what he called “a fundamental disagreement.”

“I do not believe the teachings of the Catholic Church, as we
interpret them today in 2011, can possibly condone corporal
punishment,” Archbishop Aymond said.

The archbishop said parents have the authority to use
corporal punishment in their homes to discipline their
children, but he reiterated he could not “possibly condone
corporal punishment, especially in a Catholic school.”

“I believe in my conscience that this is not in line with the
values of Jesus,” Archbishop Aymond said, adding that was why
the Archdiocese of New Orleans has for decades not permitted
corporal punishment in its schools.

Archbishop Aymond said numerous studies have indicated
corporal punishment can cause physical, emotional and
psychological damage, including loss of self-esteem and
increased hostility toward authority, and that “violence –
hitting another person – fosters violence.”

Daniel Davillier, chairman of the board of directors, said
the disciplinary review committee surveyed a range of
parents, students and alumni, and found there was wide
support for corporal punishment, although there were calls to
modify certain aspects of the process, such as not paddling
an entire group for the actions of a single student and
restricting the number of teachers or administrators who had
the authority to paddle students.

But when the modified policy was submitted to the board of
trustees, it was rejected.

“As you might imagine, that didn’t sit well with the board of
directors,” Davillier said. “We asked to meet with the
archbishop and have a productive dialogue, and he maintained
his position that it was inappropriate and morally wrong.”

In the five months since the school stopped paddling,
principal Don Boucree said discipline at the school has
deteriorated because it has had to resort to more of a “zero
tolerance” policy for unacceptable behavior.

“There are four types of infractions, and corporal punishment
basically takes care of the first two, which are considered
minor, such as being late for class or not having your
uniform correct,” Boucree said. “What has happened is that
the infractions that would have stopped by now have continued
to rise, causing the severity of the penalties to increase.”

Boucree said bullying, tardiness, parental intervention,
Saturday detentions, suspension and expulsions have increased
from last year.

Archbishop Aymond said it was good for him to listen to the
feelings of the parents and alumni.

“Nothing was resolved (at the meeting),” he said. “Whenever
there is a split in the family, we need to pray, we need to
dialogue and we need to ask, ‘What does God want out of
this?’ I certainly will be meeting with the Josephites as
well as the board of directors to see how we can come to a
better understanding and resolution of the issues.”

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