Burton

This is an appeal from an order denying a preliminary injunction sought by appellants (six adults and six minor children) to prevent the Pasadena City Board of Education, the governing body of the Pasadena Unified School District, from transferring the minor appellants from the fundamental schools which they then attended to regular district schools solely on the ground that their parents had refused or withdrawn written permission for school personnel to use corporal punishment against the minors. In addition, five of the adult appellants, as taxpayers whose property taxes help finance the Pasadena Unified School District, sought to restrain respondents from using public funds to transfer any student from a Pasadena fundamental school solely on the grounds that the student’s parent or guardian had refused or withdrawn written permission for school personnel to use corporal>1 punishment against the student, or to require parental permission for corporal punishment as a condition of a child’s enrollment in a fundamental school. Appellants argue that respondents’ policy of requiring parents to give permission for school personnel to employ corporal punishment against their…

This is another example of an unfair result achieved by focusing on one right or principle to the exclusion of all the countervailing rights or principles. The basic misconception on which the majority opinion is founded is that the requirements of respondents in regard to paddling are “inconsistent” with the law. The requirements of the fundamental schools concerning consent to paddling are not inconsistent with Education Code section 10855. They can be seen as inconsistent only if one considers in a vacuum the “rights” of an individual parent to withhold or withdraw consent.

The fundamental school was designed as an alternative form of education for parents who were dissatisfied with the regular school program. The program is entirely voluntary and there are waiting lists for admissions. Admission is by application and agreement to comply with the rules of the school. The fundamental school concept was pioneered at John Marshall.

*61 There is no legislative prohibition against corporal punishment as such in California. It is permissible with parental consent. The Legislature expressly authorized school districts to adopt rules providing for corporal punishment. Education…

This is an appeal from an order denying a preliminary injunction sought by appellants (six adults and six minor children) to prevent the Pasadena City Board of Education, the governing body of the Pasadena Unified School District, from transferring the minor appellants from the fundamental schools which they then attended to regular district schools solely on the ground that their parents had refused or withdrawn written permission for school personnel to use corporal punishment against the minors. In addition, five of the adult appellants, as taxpayers whose property taxes help finance the Pasadena Unified School District, sought to restrain respondents from using public funds to transfer any student from a Pasadena fundamental school solely on the grounds that the student's parent or guardian had refused or withdrawn written permission for school personnel to use corporal punishment against the student, or to require parental permission for corporal punishment as a condition of a child's enrollment in a fundamental school. Appellants argue that respondents' policy of requiring parents to give permission for school personnel to employ corporal punishment…