About me: Paula Flowe, a native New Yorker, has been an educator since 1980, completing her B.A. at Brooklyn College and M. Ed. at the University of Hawaii. She has primarily taught in Special Ed. Resource Programs on the elementary and secondary grade levels in New York, Hawaii, Florida, Los Angeles, and San Jose, CA . Presently, Paula instructs a Reading and Writing Strategies class at San Jose City College. Paula directs cultural school presentations annually, and oftentimes participates in dance performances with her students. In her newly formed campaign, "The Hitting Stops Here!" one of her objectives is to enroll educators in discontinuing the use of corporal punishment in cities and states where this practice is lawful and to urge parents and educators everywhere, to participate in having this practice banned in the remaining 21 US states. Currently Paula is studying to become a Positive Discipline Certified Associate, a discipline methodology designed by Dr. Jane Nelsen. Parents and educators trained by this method learn to see "mistakes as opportunities for learning." It is Paula's vision to see corporal punishment replaced with positive discipline methods that focus on treating children with kindness and respect, with the goal of having students and teachers work together to find solutions rather than punishment. Paula is a single parent of one daughter, Nia, who is attending her first year of college.
Paula has received small donations for this cause from a handful of people, but has used her personal savings, credit cards and retirement fund to take care of the expenses of her campaign. When asked about her dedication to this cause, her consistent remarks have been, "I can concern myself with the expenses of keeping a roof over my head and give my energy to that, which clearly is very important, or I can be a voice for children in need of advocacy for civil rights in a governmental system that still sanctions assault and battery against them. The latter is what matters most. When these children are abused by teachers, they have no due process. They are the last vestiges of slavery. I have traveled to Robeson County, NC in 2008 five times at my own expense. I am not finished with them nor children in the other paddling states until they are safe and treated with dignity and respect."
Paula says her experience for running this campaign comes from having been a child, a mother, and educator. She explains, "It's all the experience I need to see the objectives of my campaign to a victory. All adults were once children and remember the magic or pain of their own childhood. People in this country do not know the length and breadth of the problem of assault and battery committed against children in U S public schools once the doors are shut behind their authorities. It is my intention that the general public be informed. Greater opportunities for having it banned will occur then, speeding the day for these children to gain their civil rights, as has already occurred for their counterparts in the other 29 states.
The Hitting Stops Here! is planning to hold a demonstration in front of the Capitol building in Washington D C in the month of January. The demonstration will be held for 21 days, one day for each state that still allows this practice, hence the title of this demonstration, "21 To Go!" From January 4 - 24, 2009, Paula and other supporters of banning corporal punishment in U S Public Schools will engage in sign holding and disseminating informative leaflets to alert the American people of this atrocity that affects children in nearly half of the 50 U S states. A petition for the American people to sign will be placed on her website the week of December 1, 2008. Paula will deliver a letter and the petition to an official member of President Obama's staff on January 21. Please visit TheHittingStopsHere.com to learn more about this campaign and their work. A calendar of events and official meetings is forthcoming. Click on "21 To Go!" located at the top right corner of TheHittingStopsHere.com.
Paula Flowe, Director,
The Hitting Stops Here!
"A campaign for teaching kindness and respect in schools everywhere"
TheHittingStopsHere.com
paulaflowe@thehittingstopshere.com
Board Member of Parents and Teachers Against Violence in Education (www.nospank.net)
(408) 298-2181 ext. 3832 (24 hr. number)
