Figures released by the Department of Education put Missouri at number nine for the use of corporal punishment. According to the statistics, for the 2006-2007 school year, more than 5,000 students in Missouri were spanked or paddled while in school.

Nationally, the number is up to more than 223,000.

St. Joe NOW checked around locally and found no reports of use of corporal punishment in the St. Joseph, Savannah, Mid-Buchanan and the Buchanan R-IV districts. But the state numbers break down this way: Of the 5100 students affected, 83 percent were male and 17 percent female. The majority were white, followed by black, and then hispanic students.

The law requires each district to have a written policy on corporal punishment. Here's what the St. Joseph School District's says:

"Corporal punishment as a measure of correction is permitted..if found necessary, it should be administered, preferably by the principal or principal's designee, in the presence of the teacher. It should never be inflicted in the presence of the student's class, or without an adult witness."

We also spoke with the assistant director for secondary education here in St. Joe, she says the district is confident in the teachers and principals in the St. Joseph School District and believes they will find alternative methods for discipline without corporal punishment.

The district's policy also says schools must make every effort to inform parents when corporal punishment is used in the district, and keep complete reports of any cases.