One, two, three.

One, we’re not against corporal punishment. As long as the parents agree and it’s not too harsh, paddling a child at school when he misbehaves is acceptable.

Two paddlings in one day—that’s approaching excessive. If a child misbehaves at school to the point that the first paddling apparently hasn’t deter his behavior, then the next course of action should be a call to the parents to come get the child.

But three?

Three paddlings in one day on a 9-year-old boy at Potter Street Elementary School is excessive.

Superintendent Ralph Jones said the Board of Education’s policy doesn’t define the number of times a child can be paddled. As he said, the main issue is not the paddling, but the number of times the student was paddled.

One time is acceptable.

Two times shouldn’t be allowed, because if the child didn’t get it with the first one, what will he gain from the second paddling?

Three times is excessive, and the Board of Education should prohibit it.