CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Three Charlotte mothers are asking if exercise should be used as punishment. They turned to Channel 9 after their children said a teacher made the class walk or run laps during recess for misbehaving.
Jennifer Scarrow has daughters in first and third grade at Highland Creek Elementary School in north Charlotte. She said kids are forced to run or walk during recess.
She worries on hot days, her asthmatic daughter could have a medical emergency.
“If my child is afraid and she is having an asthma attack, she is going to keep going until she is done with those laps,” Scarrow said.
Eyewitness News spoke with two other concerned mothers who did not want to show their faces.
“Why do you think that is corporal punishment?” Eyewitness News asked.
“I feel you are inflicting physical discomfort as a form of punishment,” one mother said. “That, to me, is the definition of corporal punishment.”
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools said it condones the punishment, saying if a student is not in compliance with behavioral expectations, they may be instructed to redirect their recess time to a structured activity that is not in excess of normal physical activities.
Eyewitness News asked if that means they can stop walking or running, and CMS said yes.
But the mothers disagree, saying the kids are scared to stop.