Posted on 10/06/2010 9:27:27 AM PDT by Tom87
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Indiana's NewsCenter) - An East Allen County Schools parent is accusing her son's teacher of spanking him with his pants down in front of the class.
Fort Wayne Police confirm a detective is investigating an incident at Village Elementary after the child's mother called police Monday.
In a report, the mother says the child was acting up in class. The teacher made the student sit in the corner and when he continued to act up the teacher pulled the boys pants down and spanked him for misbehaving.
The mom says the child is mildly disabled.
East Allen County School officials confirm a teacher is on administrative leave and they have a "no corporal punishment" policy district-wide.
Hit ‘em again!
Harder! Harder!
I don’t have tooo many objections to the spanking, but was pulling the kid’s pants down in front of the class really necessary? that part I’d question most harshly
Oh my goodness. I hope this isn’t true but if it is then heads need to roll. There is a place for corporal punishment but it isn’t in public with pants pulled down. Any loving discipline we give our children should be done in private out of respect for the child’s dignity.
I must be getting old. I spent about my elementary school life in California and Florida and I was spanked more than once by teachers, and once by our principal in California. That was the one you didn’t want: He had a paddle with holes in it and knew how to use it. Now it’s a major scandal? No wonder we’re on a downhill slide...
My fifth grade teacher had a large paddle that hung behind her desk. It had an applique on it that stated:
Never spank a child in the face
Nature provides a better place
And I tell you, that old spinster lady could HIT!!!
Need more of that both in the schools and at home.
From what I’ve been reading about teachers I’m surprised that she stopped with a spanking when she got his pants down.
The cure for A.D.H.D. is oftentimes B.E.L.T.
I was paddled in middle school and probably deserved more than I got but it was in private and my pants weren’t pulled down.
This is very different than when we were in school.
ping for the list
It’s scandalous because the teacher pulled his pants down in front of the class. That is flat wrong.
The pants down is the objection in this story mostly.
Of course, the way a lot of kids wear their “pants on the ground” just bending him over to paddle him probably caused his saggy pants to fall down.
IIRC, most of mine were pants down, as were other kids. Then I’d catch #e!! at home and get worse. I remember one teacher had been on the Bataan Death March and my dad was a retired Marine Gunnery Sergeant. Think about how red my @$$ was at the end of that...
I grew up in Texas schools in the days when spanking in the principal’s office was done, and NO ONE’S pants were pulled down.
My Jr. High math teacher (also Asst. Principal) was a retired Marine officer. Guy was over six feet tall. Never saw him spank anyone, he didn’t have to. The intimidation was more than enough.

If any adult pulled down my child’s pants, I would kick them in the seat of theirs.
I was spanked during elementary school when it was legal and fashionable. My teachers were able to get the job done pants and all.
Hint for teacher: Claim it was a sex ed demonstration. You’ll get off scott free!
Yeah, same here.
My hubby was a private school principal decades ago, he was uncomfortable spanking other people’s kids so he had the parents come in and do it.
No one has a right to pull a kids pants down for a spanking especially in public.
how many of you would like some liberal teacher to have the right to paddle your kid.
Teacher's should not spank. That should be reserved for the Assistant Principal.
If it was my kid he wouldn’t be acting up in the first place but if that happened the teacher would wind up missing. Permanently.
uh, really?
I still remember my elementary school principal’s name—Mr. Woodard. He had a large wooden paddle in his office.
He was rather stern-faced, but he loved kids and would be standing inside the lobby, greeting them as they were coming into the school. It seems that kids had a healthy respect of people like that (’50s). It was a fearful thing if you had to go to Mr. Woodard’s office for a paddling. I only know of a couple of instances of boys who kept acting up. I remember that the kids were tired of them acting up, too.
I remember as a 1st grader having my pants pulled down and spanked over losing my homework.
I don’t know if I would side with the teacher on this one. If he was acting up she should have sent him to the principal. If there are learning disorders that does need to be taken into account, as a single father of a special needs child I know that the corporal discipline is no guarantee in curbing certain behaviors and that all angles need to be explored. It also may be that the school is ill-equipped to work with special needs kids. My son’s first elementary school was a train wreck but I have in a different public school and he is thriving and excelling. Will be interesting to see how this one pans out.
The assistant principal in my junior high school would just make the boys take off their shirts and do push ups. In the privacy of his office....
Uhhh that seems iffy and creepy to me.
Every kid walking by noticed and seemed to straighten up their act, and lots of parents passing by pointed and said “That's what will happen to you if you don't do as you are told”...:^)
I bet that one public act improved the behavior of all of the kids that day. It sure worked on my kids...:^)
Really.
At least he didn’t get swats from Miss Hess (2nd grade teacher). She had a paddle that looked like it was 3ft long.
What ever happened to parents recognizing that kids (even their perfect little angels) sometimes get out of line and a good paddling will help them stay straight for a long time.
Jefferson County, Colorado
Administration and Courts Facility
100 Jefferson County Parkway
Golden, Colorado 80419
303-279-6511
For Immediate Release - Apr 4, 2008
Contact: Pam Russell
DA Public Information
303-271-6905
Re: Michael DiPalma Sentenced
Michael David DiPalma appeared today in Jefferson County Court and was sentenced to Intensive Supervision Sex Offender Probation for a period of ten years to life and two years in the county jail. The 33-year-old former day camp teacher pled guilty on January 25 to Sexual Assault of a Child, a class four felony.
Michael DiPalma, who now lives in Centennial, worked at a Lakewood recreation center teaching Elementary Engineering Using Lego and Elementary Robotics Using Lego in July 2006. One of the students, an 8-year-old boy, was singled out by DiPalma. The boy was given a sticky note and told to make a checkmark on it every time he didnt follow DiPalmas instructions. The boy was told he would receive a spanking for each check mark. On July 27, 2006, when the other children were on lunch break, DiPalma lured the boy to his car and put him into the back seat. DiPalma then drove to the parking lot of a nearby apartment complex then climbed into the back seat with the boy. He put the boy on his lap, pulled down his pants and spanked him 20 times on his bare buttocks. The spanking left marks and DiPalma told him not to tell or that he would go to the boys house and spank him harder. When the boys mother picked him up at the end of the day, he told her what had happened. The family reported the incident to the Lakewood Police Department.
DiPalmas case went trial in September, 2006 but the jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
The jury heard evidence that in May 2006 DiPalma had worked for a company called Computer Tots, teaching an after-school class at Steck Elementary School in Denver. In that class he asked the second graders to vote on which of them should be spanked. He spanked at least two 7-year-olds before his employment at Steck Elementary was terminated.
Court records also indicate that DiPalma had been accused of unlawful sexual contact of a child, kidnapping, and false imprisonment in 1999 in New Mexico. The boy and girl who were named as victims in that case were 10-year-olds and they did not know DiPalma. He was given a deferred judgment and probation.
DiPalma was remanded to the custody of the Sheriff following the sentencing. He will be required to register as a sex offender.
I hope it doesn't give Lego Robotics a bad name in that area - it is a great way to get kids to interact with computers in a way that does not involve passive games.
I have been a judge for the Lego Robotics contests, and it's a hoot watching the kids play and learn.
The US needs more engineers, and this is a good way to start kids off.
I have never heard of this before but I am going to check into it. My son and his friends are addicted to LEGOs!
But do you think it’s right that this LEGO-robotics teacher was charged with a sexual crime (as opposed to simple assault)? If so, on what grounds?
And what if that man you saw spanking the boy with his pants down at Disneyland wasn’t actually the boy’s parent as ever? Would its value to onlooking children be any different?
Anyone ever did this to a child of mine they’d be thrown off a roof.
My sons will be competing this year. They didn’t take a class in robotics, though. Everything is being done at home.
i spank all my 5 like hell when need(ed) be’’but pants down in front of class just gives the enemy fodder
If this bit of the story is correct, then yes.
“...DiPalma lured the boy to his car and put him into the back seat. DiPalma then drove to the parking lot of a nearby apartment complex then climbed into the back seat with the boy. He put the boy on his lap, pulled down his pants and spanked him 20 times on his bare buttocks....”
And what if that man you saw spanking the boy with his pants down at Disneyland wasnt actually the boys parent as ever? Would its value to onlooking children be any different?
It was pretty obvious from the words being spoken that he was a parent/guardian - but it probably would not have made a difference to other kids watching. The mother was there too.
It was in the 70’s and would certainly be different now.
So what specific factors in the excerpt that you cited have led you to conclude that the spanking was a sexual offense?
In any case, it’s worth considering whether the charges against DiPalma would have been different back in the 70’s.
The lego robotics teacher had the boy singled out away from others, in a secretive fashion (in the car, after hours) to spank. That is what made it sexual and not a punishment.
I don’t think that follows. Yes, DiPalma was secretive about spanking the boy, indicating that he knew he could get in trouble. But that doesn’t mean his motives were necessarily sexual—just that his actions weren’t acceptable. (If he had done this to the boy openly, would that have prevented sexual assault charges?)
One could suppose that he simply has a mean streak and therefore seized an opportunity to inflict pain on a defenseless child, who probably didn’t know that it was a crime for the teacher to spank him. An adult bully, basically, who chooses particular victims to pick on.
And then again, what if DiPalma sincerely thought the boy was a brat who needed a good ass-whipping? Even if he doesn’t have the right to give him one, just doing so make him a sexual predator?
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