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 Education and Resource Programs on the elementary and secondary grade levels in New York, Hawaii, Florida, Los Angeles, and San Jose, CA.  Paula has instructed Guidance Reading and Writing Strategies classes at San Jose City College for students having autism and other specific needs.

Paula directs cultural presentations annually, and participates in dance performances with her students.  She is the parent of one daughter, Nia, who is pursuing a college degree.

In a national organization called, The Hitting Stops Here!, founded and directed by Paula, its primary objective is to have the government place a ban on school corporal punishment.  This practice of beating students with wooden boards on their buttocks is a violation of their 14th amendment EQUAL protection right.  The Hitting Stops Here! wants to see this scientifically proven harmful practice replaced with effective positive discipline models that produce independent thinkers, problem-solvers and leaders.

Paula has received a small number of donations for this cause from a handful of people but has primarily used her personal finances to meet the needs of this work and to fund 16 trips.  She has campaigned in several states including Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Washington DC.

Paula believes that school abuse remains a tightly held dark secret by our government because the common profile of abused school children are those found at the bottom of the American caste system (Black Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, students having special needs and those who are “openly” gay).   She quoted Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey who termed this practice in American schools as, “…legalized child abuse.” May 2009.

“I would have been so inclined to start a campaign called, The Lynching Stops Here! during that dark era of American history, joining W. E. B. DuBois,” says Paula.  “He went to President Franklin D. Roosevelt requesting that our Black American men and women be extended their 14th amendment right for protection from lynchings.  In our quest to protect US citizens from blatant injustice, Mr. DuBois and I have this much in common--governing officials have responded to us in like manner, ‘You do something about it!’”

Through research, Paula learned that, reportedly, more than 2000 American school children are beaten by teachers and principals each school day and that reporting is not mandatory. 
The Hitting Stops Here! needs your help in bringing this dark chapter of American history to a close.  Please contact The Hitting Stops Here! by email or you may fill out a Volunteer form. 

Thank you.
The Hitting Stops Here!
A campaign for teaching kindness and respect in schools everywhere.
info@thehittingstopshere.com