Mom questions Texas teen's school spanking

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SPRINGTOWN, Texas, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- A Texas mom says she OKd her 15-year-old daughter's spanking punishment at school but is questioning the severity of the single whack.

Taylor Santos initially received a two-day in-school suspension for allegedly letting a classmate copy her homework, but then opted for an optional spanking to void the second day. Springtown High School Vice Principal Kirt Shaw administered a single blow with a large wooden paddle Sept. 19.

The girl's mom, Anna Jorgensen, said Shaw did so with such a violent, upward motion that it left a numbing, burn-like mark.

"She was more humiliated and embarrassed than anything, but the more she and I thought about it, it wasn't fair and I thought I needed to do something about it," Jorgensen told Fox News.

"I really don't think he had to hit her that hard. I'm not saying he went in to intentionally hurt my daughter, but intentional or not, it did happen."

The district policy allows corporal punishment but stipulates it must be administered by a teacher or administrator of the same gender as the student.

Springtown Independent School District officials have responded by considering changing the same-sex spanking rule to allow cross-gender spanking, Fox News said.

District Superintendent Mike Kelley said the board was to discuss that option Monday night.

Jorgensen said changing the policy would just be the district officials trying to "cover themselves."

"If you're going to have corporal punishment, the [same gender] policy should stand," she said. "But it's about the force and the fact that I knew the school policy before it happened."

Fox noted 31 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have abolished corporal punishment in public schools.