Parents and Teachers Against Violence in Education (PTAVE)

P.O. Box 1033

Alamo, CA 94507

(925) 831-1661

www.nospank.net

info@nospank.net



April 28, 2011 Alan Yarbrough, Principal

Marshall High School

U.S. 65

Marshall, AR 72650 Dear Principal Yarbrough: It has been brought to the attention of PTAVE that students at Marshall High School are routinely subjected to humiliating, painful, dangerous corporal punishment. We have just learned from one outraged parent that her daughter, a student at Marshall High School, sustained injuries to the buttocks as a result of such punishment. The familiar term for this practice is paddling, but a more honest and precise term is sexual battery. That's what it's called when an adult is assaulted with a weapon targeting the pelvic region, and we can find no reasonable explanation why such an assault should be regarded differently if the victim is a schoolchild. When staff members at Marshall High School inflict such punishments, they undermine the common prohibition given to innocent children by most concerned parents, "Your bathing suit area is off-limits to everyone." That lesson is the child's first defense against sexual predators. It should be reinforced, not trashed, by educators. We have also been informed that paddling at Marshall High School is a routine occurrence, that it can be imposed for such trivial infractions as a forgotten homework assignment, a failing grade on a quiz, a loud yawn during study hall, a cell phone ringing in the lunch room or chewing gum. An impartial observer might reasonably conclude that those who administer such beatings are perpetually on the lookout for a reason — any reason — to reach for their paddles. Your school district, which serves 925 students, reported 583 beatings last year. We have learned that students to be punished are offered an opt-out. They are given the choice between bending over and taking the paddling, which is over and done with in a few seconds, or accepting an alternative such as a Saturday detention or suspension. "The choice is yours," students are told. This is nothing more than a thinly veiled form of extortion designed to create the illusion that the victim is a willing participant in the act. In closing, we at PTAVE would like to remind you that it is impossible to find a teachers' college in the United States that instructs undergraduates in techniques for hitting students. We suggest that now is the time for teachers at Marshall High School to put away their weapons and begin teaching as they were trained. Sincerely,



Jordan Riak, Exec. Dir. cc:

Dustin McDaniel, Arkansas Attorney General

Joe Thompson, MD, MPH, Arkansas Surgeon General

Dr. Naccaman Williams, Chair, Arkansas State Board of Education

Dr. Ben Mays, Vice Chair, Arkansas State Board of Education

Sherry Burrow, Member, Arkansas State Board of Education

Jim Cooper, Member, Arkansas State Board of Education

Brenda Gullett, Member, Arkansas State Board of Education

Samuel Ledbetter, Member, Arkansas State Board of Education

Alice Williams Mahony, Member, Arkansas State Board of Education

Toyce Newton, Member, Arkansas State Board of Education

Vicki Saviers, Member, Arkansas State Board of Education

Debbie Horton, Editor, Marshall Mountain Wave

Paul Greenberg, Opinion Editor, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Max Brantley, Editor, Arkansas Times

Roy Ockert, Editor, Jonesboro Sun

Andrew Vining, Superintendent, Searcy County School District

Patti Bohannon, Principle, Leslie Elementary

Susan Housley, Member, Searcy County School Board

Lisa Parks, Member, Searcy County School Board

Betty Horton, Member, Searcy County School Board

Talitha Hardin, Member, Searcy County School Board

Suzanne Woods, Member, Searcy County School Board

Senator Jimmy Jeffress, Chair, Arkansas Senate Education Committee

Senator Mary Anne Salmon, Vice Chair, Arkansas Senate Education Committee

Senator Gilbert Baker, Member, Arkansas Senate Education Committee

Senator Kim Hendren, Member, Arkansas Senate Education Committee

Senator Gene Jeffress, Member, Arkansas Senate Education Committee

Senator Johnny Key, Member, Arkansas Senate Education Committee

Senator Joyce Elliott, Member, Arkansas Senate Education Committee

Senator Bruce Holland, Member, Arkansas Senate Education Committee

Rep. Bill Abernathy. Chair, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Nancy Duffy Blount, Vice Chair, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Mark Martin, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Rick Saunders, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. David Rainey, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. David Cook, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Eddie Cheatham, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Toni Bradford, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Donna Hutchinson, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Jerry Brown, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Charolette Wagner, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Steven Breedlove, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Dan Greenberg, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Tim Summers, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Les "Skip" Carnine, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Mark Perry, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Linda Tyler, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Robert Dale, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Monty Betts, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Jody Dickinson, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Fred Allen, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Robert Moore, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Tommy Lee Baker, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Johnnie Roebuck, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Debra Hobbs, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Uvalde Lindsey, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Darrin Williams, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Karen Hopper, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Ann Clemmer, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep Tiffany Rogers, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Rep. Mary Slinkard, Member, Arkansas House Education Committee

Alan Fortenberry, President, Arkansas State Board of Health

Susan Jones, MD President Elect, Arkansas State Board of Health

Paul K. Halverson, DrPH, Secretary/Director, Arkansas State Board of Health

Glen “Eddie” Bryant, M.D., Member, Arkansas State Board of Health

Lawrence Braden, M.D., Member, Arkansas State Board of Health

Dr. Clark Fincher, Member, Arkansas State Board of Health

Larry Fritchman, D.V.M., Member, Arkansas State Board of Health

George Harper, JD, Member, Arkansas State Board of Health

Anthony N. Hui, M.D., Member, Arkansas State Board of Health

Thomas Jones, R.S., Member, Arkansas State Board of Health

Alexander Rejistre, Sr., DC, Member, Arkansas State Board of Health

Lynda M. Lehing, Member, Arkansas State Board of Health

Marvin Leibovich, M.D., Member, Arkansas State Board of Health

John Richard Page, P.D., Member, Arkansas State Board of Health

Mary Beth Ringgold, Member, Arkansas State Board of Health

Miranda Childs Bebee, DDS, Member, Arkansas State Board of Health

Jim Lambert, Member, Arkansas State Board of Health

Rev. Dwight Townsend, Member, Arkansas State Board of Health

Peggy Walker, RN, MSN, Member, Arkansas State Board of Health

Patricia Westfall-Elsberry, O.D., Member, Arkansas State Board of Health

Anika Whitfield, D.P.M., Member, Arkansas State Board of Health

Terry Yamauchi, M.D., Member, Arkansas State Board of Health

Brenda Brown, Member, Professional Licensure Standards Board

Dr. Jerry Guess, Member, Professional Licensure Standards Board

Kathy Howell, Member, Professional Licensure Standards Board

Dr. John Jones, Member, Professional Licensure Standards Board

Carolyn Odom, Member, Professional Licensure Standards Board

Marion Sibert, Member, Professional Licensure Standards Board

Evelyn Thrower, Member, Professional Licensure Standards Board

Beverly Williams, Member, Professional Licensure Standards Board

Dr. Tony Finley, Member, Professional Licensure Standards Board

Dr. Mitch Holifield, Member, Professional Licensure Standards Board

Sheila Jacobs, Member, Professional Licensure Standards Board

Don McGohan, Member, Professional Licensure Standards Board

Dale Query, Member, Professional Licensure Standards Board

Dr. Tom Smith, Member, Professional Licensure Standards Board

Ron Tolson, Member, Professional Licensure Standards Board

Phyllis Stewart, Program Administrator, Arkansas Department of Education

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