Chatham, Johnston, Franklin and Harnett counties are among those that allow corporal punishment in their public schools.

"It's very rarely, if ever, used," said Harnett County Superintendent Dan Honeycutt.

But Honeycutt didn't know exactly how many times corporal punishment had been administered in his district and said he does not require principals to report it to him.

Now, some state legislators and education leaders say spanking students has no place in the schools and are asking lawmakers to ban the practice.

Rep. Martha Alexander, a Charlotte Democrat, filed a bill Wednesday with the support of several area lawmakers, including Democratic Reps. Jennifer Weiss of Wake, and Larry Hall and Paul Luebke of Durham.

"The children should not be subject to violence in the schools from anybody," Alexander said. "We do know there are better ways, there are other ways, to discipline children."

State Superintendent June Atkinson and Eddie Davis, president of the N.C. Association of Educators, also support a ban.

According to a survey taken this year by the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work, 68 school districts in North Carolina allow corporal punishment, and 47 prohibit it.

Wake, Durham and Orange counties prohibit corporal punishment.

In 2002, Alexander said, 4,866 students were subjected to corporal punishment statewide.

Gary Shaffer, an associate professor in the School of Social Work, said use of corporal punishment has declined nationwide since the 1980s and most industrialized nations forbid it.

There is little data about corporal punishment in North Carolina's schools, he said, but studies from other states show boys and minorities tend to get spanked the most.

Although corporal punishment might temporarily curb bad behavior, Shaffer said, it can make some children more aggressive over time.

"I'm not saying for every child that gets struck it leads to this," he said. "But when you hit a child, you really don't know what their psychological situation is."

Broad state laws let school boards and principals set their own punishment policies, which is a problem, said Brian Lewis, executive director of Covenant with North Carolina's Children, a child advocacy group that helped organize a news conference Wednesday.

There are no standards or training for administering corporal punishment, and school personnel often refuse to say how they carry it out, he said.

But anecdotally, "it's typically big pieces of wood being slapped against children," he said.

Legal immunity

In September 2005, a child in Robeson County was "beaten black and blue" by a teacher and ended up in an emergency room, said Peggy Dean of Union County, and a member of Parents and Teachers Against Violence in Education.

Robeson County prosecutors decided against prosecuting, according to a February 2006 article by The Associated Press. State educators have immunity from criminal conviction unless the corporal punishment caused permanent injury or was done maliciously, AP reported.

At least three years ago, a principal physically punished a student in a Chatham County elementary school, said school board Chairman Norman Clark.

Chatham school officials wouldn't describe the punishment Wednesday. The corporal punishment policy on the school system's Web site says parents will be notified, only a school official may administer it, and it must be done in view of a witness. The policy does say what a principal can use to strike the student, such as a wooden paddle.

Chatham County Commissioner George Lucier, whose son goes to a public high school, said he just learned of Chatham's corporal policy. He plans to ask the school board to ban it during the county's budget process, he said.

"It's one of those things reminiscent of the early days," he said. "Why not just take it off the books?"

Superintendents from Chatham, Franklin and Johnston counties did not return calls seeking comment.

(News researchers Denise Jones and Lamara Williams-Hackett contributed to this report.)