Satanic Temple Billboard Targets North Texas School District's Use of Corporal Punishment

The Satanic Temple says it doesn't like the paddling of schoolchildren, so it's picking a fight with a small Fort Worth-area school district.It has raised a billboard in Springtown with this message: "Never be hit in school again. Exercise your religious rights."The billboard displays the group's logo, which features a pentagram framing a goat skull.Members of The Satanic Temple, who view Satan not as a deity but as an icon of rebellion, are criticizing Springtown ISD for allowing corporal punishment. The district made headlines in 2012 when a male assistant principal at Springtown High School paddled two female students. The paddling violated a district policy requiring corporal punishment to be carried out by school staff of the same sex. But after the incident, Springtown ISD changed its rules so that students could be punished by school staff of the opposite sex as long as a school employee of the same sex as the student was present. In the 2012 case, the mothers of the girls who were paddled said they were bruised."I gave consent for my daughter to get a swat, but I didn't give consent for him to bruise my daughter," Cathi Watt said, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "I don't think a female will raise a bruise because she doesn't have the strength of a male. I think this sends a message to boys that it's OK to hit a girl and it's OK to bruise a girl. That's not right."The Satanic Temple said on its Protect Children Project website that it chose Springtown as the site for its first billboard because "they routinely hit students," but it offered no other examples besides the 2012 case. No one answered the phone at Springtown ISD on Thursday. The district is about 27 miles northwest of Fort Worth.  Continue reading...