CHEERCAPTAINPADDLED

SECTIONHIGHSCHOOLALABAMA2008

In north eastern Alabama lies the small townof Section. Section High School, despite itsname is in fact a K-12 school, and the onlypublic school in town.

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SECTION HIGH SCH (AL) ;Profile, Corporal punishment235

NCES ID: 010183000667JACKSON CO (AL) prc.,, F

115(2006)

At the start of the 21' century corporalpunishment was a seldom used punishmentat Section High School. The image belowshows a report from the Office of CivilRights, showing that SHS reported onlypaddling 5 students in the 2000-2001 schoolyear. All five were boys.Showing counts

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Section High School (AL) (prcrieiNCES ID: 010183000667Jackson County Sch Dist (AL);prondei(2000)

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Corporal punishment

Race/Ethnicity a

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5

However the report on the 2006-2007school year indicated a massive upturn inthe use of corporal punishment at SHS.

One hundred and fifteen girls were paddledat the school that year. Many of them morethan once.

The reason for this huge increase in the useof the paddle as a disciplinary tool can beattributed to one clear factor. The arrival in2004 of Mr Steve Durham as Principal. MrDurham i s strongly pro-paddling, andimmediately b e g a n u s i n g corporalpunishment as the primary disciplinarymeasure for most offenses for students ingrades 7 through 12.

Students at Section HS say that rarely a daywent by without someone going to Mr

Durham's office for 'licks'.

The photo below previously appeared on theSection High School website.

Mr Durham's paddle can clearly be seenlaying on his desk. Students say that thepink colored taping around the handleindicate that this was Mr Durham's 'girls'paddle. A slightly larger board, with bluetaping was used to paddle boys.

Despite the frequency of paddling at SectionHigh School, one student who hadsuccessfully avoided the board was seniorRaeah Johnson. Raeah had been an 8thgrader when Mr Durham arrived at theschool, but unlike most of her friends andclass mates she had never experienced a'licking' at the hands of Principal Durham.

Raeah was one o f the top academicstudents in her class, as well as one of themost well behaved. She was a long timemember of the Section Cheerleading squad,and had been named as captain for the2008-2009 school year. She would go on tobe elected Prom Queen at the 2009 SeniorProm.

Many of her fellow cheerleaders had beenpaddled by Mr Durham, and Raeah recalledhow on many occasions she saw the effectsof the paddle in the locker room, with

several girls having marks that lasted forseveral days after the licks were given.

The 2008 football season did not start wellfor the Section Lions. After a victory in theiropening game, the Lions suffered threehumiliating losses in a row, leaving them inlast place in Alabama's Class 2A Region 6Division.

A non-divisional game against a class 3Aopponent, Pisgah High School, looked set tohand the Lions a fourth consecutive defeat.However, to everyone's surprise, Sectionpulled off a dramatic victory, winning 19-15.

As time expired on the game clock, playersand cheerleaders ran onto the field from theSection sideline to celebrate the unlikelyvictory.

When Principal Durham arrived at schoolthe following Monday morning, he wassurprised to find an E-mail in his inbox froma concerned parent, complaining about"inappropriate behavior" from some studentsat the end of Friday's game. The E-mailspecifically named Raeah Johnson as wellas 11th grade cheerleader LeeAnnHandback as two of the culprits.

Mr Durham, who had not witnessedanything he considered to be inappropriatetaking place, set about investigating theclaims.

He spoke with Head Football Coach JeffMonroe, hoping he might be able to confirmthe claims made in the E-mail. CoachMonroe told Principal Durham that he hadnot seen anything inappropriate taking placeon the field, however he had found Raeah inthe boys locker room with the footballplayers after the game.

This was a clear breach of Section HighSchool rules, and one that Mr Durham knewhe would have to punish the cheer captainfor.

Raeah was instructed to report to thePrincipal's office at the end of her lunchperiod. The senior was totally oblivious towhy she was being called to see thePrincipal. When she arrived at the office,three 7th grade boys who had been involvedin a school yard fight sat waiting to see MrDurham. Secretary Dolores Patterson toldRaeah to take a seat next to the three boys.

Shortly afterwards Principal Durhamappeared at the office door. Despite arrivinglast, Raeah was the first to be called into theoffice.

Inside Raeah was questioned about theclaims made in the E-mail. She admitted tohugging and kissing her boyfriend, a Sectionfootball player, but denied doing anythinginappropriate. Next Mr Durham asked herabout going into the boys locker room.Raeah admitted that she had, but insistedthat she left immediately when told to byCoach Monroe.

Principal Durham told Raeah that he would

not be taking any action over the claimsmade in the E-mail, however she hadbehaved inappropriately by entering theboys locker room. As cheer captain, he toldher, she was to "set an example". Instead,he was going to "make an example of her".

Unlike many schools which still use thepaddle, students at Section High School donot get the option o f an alternativepunishment. The decision to administercorporal punishment is made by PrincipalDurham alone.

Raeah had hoped that she would be spareda paddling, but she knew that hope was invain when Mr Durham opened his deskdrawer and removed his pink handled "girlspaddle".

Raeah was instructed to step up to the frontof his desk. She then had to bend over andgrip the far side of the desk. At only 5'4" thiswas not so easy for Raeah, she was at fullstretch and up on her toes to assume therequired position.

Mr Durham walked across to the door,paddle in hand. He opened the door andasked Mrs Patterson to come inside to

witness Raeah's punishment.

Outside the the three 7th grade boys couldnot believe what they were seeing. Cheercaptain Raeah Johnson was stretchedacross Mr Durham's desk, awaiting a'licking'.

Mr Durham was known for giving "slow andhard" licks. Students believed he left longgaps between licks to allow each lick to"sink in". Raeah's paddling was to be noexception to this procedure. Each lick wasdelivered with such force that it lifted Raeahright up onto the tips of her toes. Each timethis was followed by a gap of twenty to thirtyseconds, during which the 17 year old clungtightly to the desk and tried her best to fightback tears.

After her fourth and final lick, Raeahremained bent across the desk as she hadbeen instructed. Again Mr Durham had herhold this position long enough for the lastswat to "sink in", before allowing her tostand up.

Raeah said she could not sit comfortably fortwo days as a result of the paddling, andwas still sporting marks on her bottom whenshe came to cheer at Section's next footballgame the following Friday night.