School principal under investigation over birthday "spankings"

Linn County authorities are investigating complaints that a Mount Vernon elementary school principal used a padded hockey stick to deliver birthday spankings to his students.

Complaints about Principal Terry Eisenbarth’s birthday “whammies” at Washington Elementary School also are under review by school board members.

“I do not spank my kids at home on their birthdays,” said Steve Wernimont, 44, who has three children. “That is not a celebration. It’s being subservient to a dominating figure.”

Wernimont and his husband, Ric Turnquist, said their three children, ages 9, 8, and 7, received birthday whammies last fall. The children didn’t acknowledge the spankings until this month, when Wernimont said he heard about the practice and asked them about it.

The older children didn’t seem to mind, but the 7-year-old boy, who has post-traumatic stress disorder and other emotional problems, “did not like it one bit,” Wernimont said.

The couple said they complained to police and the school board only after Superintendent Pamela Ewell did not respond to an e-mail for several days.

In a letter to parents, Eisenbarth described the “pat on the backside” as a birthday tradition. He celebrated each child’s birthday with an announcement on the school intercom, followed by an invitation to the principal’s office.

OMG talk about creepy. He should be hiring escorts to live out his sick fantasies instead of involving his students. At least that's why Elliot Spitzer did.

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