SAN ANTONIO – A story out of Port Arthur in Southeast Texas is getting a lot of attention after a football player said he was paddled by a coach after missing school and wearing the wrong color practice pants.
Noah Lopez’s father told KPRC, our sister station in Houston, that neither he nor the boy’s mother gave permission for him to be physically punished.
“It just really hurt real bad. I was running across the room going in circles, and everybody was just laughing,” Lopez said. “I was like, dang, come on bro, it’s already embarrassing I’m getting hit.”
Lopez joined the Memorial High School football team in Port Arthur less than a month ago.
He said the reason he missed school was because he didn’t have a ride after his mother was seriously injured in a crash.
Lopez said his coach was furious with his pant color and that he didn’t have Lopez’s phone number.
Lopez’s father told KPRC the call from the school office was something he’d never heard before.
“Never whooping without my permission. I don’t even whoop on my kid,” Lopez’s father said.
Corporal punishment is defined as deliberate infliction of physical pain by hitting, paddling, spanking, slapping or any other physical force used as a means of discipline.
Port Arthur ISD said in part it’s “policy doesn’t require a parent to provide advance written consent before corporal punishment may be administered.”
According to the Texas Education Code, if parents or guardians do not want corporal punishment to be used on their children, they have to sign a written statement and send it to the district’s board of trustees.
KSAT reached out to more than 15 local school districts around the San Antonio area to find out about their corporal punishment protocols. Almost all of them responded.
The following school districts have prohibited corporal punishment:
- Northside ISD
- North East ISD
- San Antonio ISD
- Edgewood ISD
- East Central ISD
- South San Antonio ISD
- Southside ISD
- Medina Valley ISD
- Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD
- Somerset ISD
- Boerne ISD
- Harlandale ISD
Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD told KSAT it voted last month to remove the option from its handbook.
Somerset ISD said it prohibited corporal punishment in 2023, however it has not updated its online student handbook, which still says corporal punishment is allowed.
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