USA19 August, 20262 min read
Port Arthur ISD Investigates Memorial High School Coach Paddling Player Three Times
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PAISD investigating alleged paddling of Memorial High School football player who was paddled three times. District says corporal punishment is allowed under policy under certain circumstances.
6 outlets told this the same way.
Texas district reviews paddling
Port Arthur ISD (PAISD) is investigating allegations that a Memorial High School football player was severely bruised after being paddled three times by a coach during a Saturday practice. In a Tuesday morning statement, PAISD superintendent Mark Porterie said, "The District takes concerns regarding student safety and the administration of student discipline seriously and is reviewing the circumstances surrounding the reported incident," as the school board prepares to revisit the corporal-punishment policy.
Noah Lopez, a 15-year-old new student at Memorial High School, told FOX 26 that after he was pulled aside before football practice, "boom, I just got hit and everyone was just laughing." Lopez said he was hit three times and did not want to go to practice afterward because he was upset, while his father, Henry Lopez, said he was not aware of the district’s policy and called the handling "unprofessional."
Opt-out policy and parent pushback
PAISD officials say corporal punishment is permitted under district policy and the Student Code of Conduct, and that the policy operates on an opt-out basis requiring parents to submit a signed written statement to the campus principal each school year. Porterie told reporters that the board of trustees will "revisit the District’s corporal-punishment policy to consider whether any revisions or additional procedures are appropriate," while the district said it is reviewing the incident to determine whether policies and procedures were followed.
Noah Lopez described the moment as humiliating and said, "It’s already embarrassing I’m getting hit," adding that he felt he was forced to go through the punishment. Henry Lopez said he hoped the district would discipline the coach and told FOX 26, "I really hope they punish that coach, talk to him, suspend him, fire him, make him apologize to my son," while also saying he would have opted out if he had known about the policy.
Broader U.S. debate on consent
Beyond Port Arthur, NPR reported that "15 states have laws that allow corporal punishment in schools" and that the practice is generally governed by states and local districts rather than a federal ban.
NPR also said the U.S. Department of Education’s Civil Rights Data Collection shows almost 32,000 reported instances of corporal punishment on K-12 students in the 2021-'22 school year, about 1 reported incident per 2,000 students.
In Port Arthur, the district’s position is that its corporal punishment policy does not require written consent before it is administered, and that parents who do not want it used must provide a signed written statement opting out for that school year.
The dispute over consent and transparency is reflected in parent reactions quoted by Chron, including Miranda Renee’s statement on Facebook that, "When something as serious as hitting a CHILD is an option, parents should not have to know the law exists and specifically ask how to revoke their consent."