A frightening video has gone viral showing a principal and a clerk at an elementary school in southwest Florida reprimanding a six-year-old child for allegedly scratching a computer screen.
Photographs of the incident were taken by the child’s mother, who visited the school to pay a fine for the injury her daughter was accused of causing. The mother claimed that she documented the incident because she was afraid no one would accept her story.
The district manual states that corporal punishment is forbidden, even though Florida law doesn’t expressly forbid it. According to the child’s mother, the paddling was brutal and terrible, perhaps resulting in both physical and mental harm.
The family’s attorney characterized the severity of the penalty as “aggravated battery.” The mother has taken her daughter to the doctor to record the injuries.
The incident has sparked outrage and calls for justice, and it is hoped that the school district will act appropriately.
