Corporal Punishment
In every school district and supervisory district, the trustee, trustees, board of education or board of cooperative educational services, shall submit a written semiannual report to the Commissioner of Education, by January 15th and July 15th of each year commencing July 1, 1985, setting forth the substance of each complaint about the use of corporal punishment received by the local school authorities during the reporting period, the results of each investigation, and the action, if any, taken by the school authorities in each case.
The term corporal punishment, as used in this section, shall mean any act of physical force upon a pupil for the purpose of punishing that pupil. Such term, as used in this section, shall not mean the use of reasonable physical force for any of the following purposes:
- to protect oneself from physical injury;
- to protect another pupil or teacher or any other person from physical injury;
- to protect the property of the school or of others; or
- to restrain or remove a pupil whose behavior is interfering with the orderly exercise and performance of school district functions, powers or duties, if that pupil has refused to comply with a request to refrain from further disruptive acts; provided that alternative procedures and methods not involving the use of physical force cannot reasonably be employed to achieve the purposes set forth in clauses (a) through (d) of this subparagraph.
Complaints About the Use of Corporal Punishment by District, BOCES or Charter School Personnel:
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Note that beginning with the January-June 2016 reporting period, Incidents of Complaints Regarding the use of Corporal Punishment will be collected via the SED Monitoring and Vendor Performance System (MVPS) which may be accessed at: http://portal.nysed.gov. Once logged in, clink on the link to “SED Monitoring and Vendor Performance System,” then choose "Student Support Services", then choose "Complaints of Corporal Punishment.” Complete the survey as indicated.
