***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

FAMILY NETWORK ON DISABILITIES CALLS FOR MORATORIUM
ON CORPORAL PUNISHMENT OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

 CLEARWATER – Family Network on Disabilities (FND) issued a call today to Governor Crist and Commissioner of Education Eric Smith to impose an immediate statewide moratorium on the use of corporal punishment against students with disabilities in Florida’s public schools. 

This action follows a report released recently by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) detailing a number of graphic instances of punishment of students with disabilities, several of which were from Florida.  The ACLU/HRW report found that children with disabilities are punished at a higher rate than the student body as a whole.  It also found that students with disabilities are often punished for behaviors that are the result of their disability and are many times beyond their control. 

 Rich La Belle, Executive Director of FND, said:  “The time is now to end this practice.  We’re calling on the Governor, the Commissioner, and Superintendents and school boards across the state to end corporal punishment of students with disabilities immediately.  Once this happens, we can discuss where to go from here.  We want to make sure that we start the new school year without students with disabilities being subjected to this type of punishment.”

 The letter to the Governor and the Commissioner is attached to this release.

 For more information, please contact Rich La Belle at 727 523 1130.

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Letter to Governor and Commissioner.pdf (48.51 kb)