A Florida school principal was filmed spanking a terrified 6-year-old girl with a paddle while her shocked mother watched.
Melissa Carter, the principal of Central Elementary School in Clewiston, faces criminal charges after she was caught on camera using a paddle on the young student.
According to reports, the mother was called to the school after staff complained that she had caused $50 worth of damage to a computer.
The mother, who doesn’t speak English fluently, did not understand what was going on when she arrived to pay the fine but she was brought to the principal’s office where her child was waiting.
Speaking to WINK News, the tearful mom said: “The hatred with which she hit my daughter, I mean it was a hatred that, really I’ve never hit my daughter like she hit her. I had never hit her.
“My daughter was already in the office. The principal started to scream. There were no cameras. What are we doing in this place? My daughter and I, alone.”
The mother said she did not know what to do and was worried that her immigration status would be questioned if she tried to intervene.
“Nobody would have believed me,” she said after she filmed the incident. “I sacrificed my daughter, so all parents can realize what’s happening in this school.”
The mother’s attorney, Bret Provinsky, said that the State Attorney’s Office is reviewing the case to determine whether they would pursue criminal charges against the principal and the clerk of the school, who was also in the room when the spanking happened.
The website for the school district states: “The superintendent shall designate sanctions for the infractions of rules, excluding corporal punishment.”
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