Corporal punishment in my home state (Pennsylvania) ended by law in 1977, when I was 4 years old and had yet to set foot in school. Nobody cared. That’s not to take away from your point, but it’s at least possible that if somebody had hit a kid and that kid’s parents had the resources to escalate the issue, it’s possible that somebody would have taken note of the actual law. But in Pennsyltucky? Unlikely.
What might have caused a ruckus was if a teacher hit a girl, but that was a VERY rare occurrence, because “chivalry” and…not wanting to be told they couldn’t hit kids anymore and/or getting beat up by somebody’s father.
