Ada wall discipline prompts concerns

ADA — A mother who kept her sixth-grader out of school for a week because of a disagreement over how he was punished said her son will go back to school today.

Amy Caton’s son, Jonathan, 12, was told to stand facing Willard Grade Center’s brick school building Oct. 20 during recess. He was being punished for not turning in a homework assignment.

Caton said her son gets 15 to 20 minutes of recess after lunch every day.

Caton decided to send her son back after meeting with school officials Tuesday. She contends the school’s policy of making students stand facing the side of the brick school building as other children play is wrong.

"I think it’s publicly humiliating and disgusting to stick your face on a wall. It’s not productive punishment,” she said.

School policy allows for other forms of discipline, including detention, but Caton said neither she nor her son was given an alternative until she questioned it. Her son had never been in trouble before, but she knew of the punishment after reading it in the school’s handbook, she said.

"I told him if he was ever told to stand against the wall, he needed to tell the teacher or the principal that his mother said it wasn’t an option,” Caton said.

Caton said her son called to let her know he’d been told to stand against the wall on Oct. 20. After a brief conversation with Principal Kevin Mann, she went to get her son.

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