For those of us who were whipped, that paddling sound brings back some not so fond memories.

The Clewiston Police Department in Florida says they are now investigating a case of Central Elementary School Principal Melissa Carter paddling a student in front of her mother.

That paddling was caught on video by the student’s mother.

WINK-TV reports:

“The family’s lawyer, Brent Probinsky, said Clewiston police have turned over the investigation to the State Attorney’s Office for the 20th Judicial Circuit, which includes Hendry County. The state attorney’s office is deciding whether they will bring criminal charges against Carter and Cecilia Self, a clerk at school also in the video, Probinsky said.

In an exclusive interview with WINK News, the child’s mother spoke about what happened.

“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,” the mother told WINK News in Spanish.

“I had never hit her,” the woman said as she cried.

The incident happened on April 13 when the school called the woman to say her 6-year-old daughter had caused damage to a computer. They said the fee would be $50.

According to the police report, the woman mentioned paddling with her and a deputy present, but she said she didn’t understand the process correctly due to a language barrier.

The woman went to the school to pay the fee, but she was taken to the principal’s office instead where she found her daughter, Carter and Self, but no deputy.

“My daughter was already in the office,” the woman said. “The principal started to scream.”

The woman looked around and started to get nervous.

“There are no cameras,” she said. “What are we doing in this place? My daughter and I, alone.”

So she did what she thought was her only option and hid her phone in her purse and set it to record.

“Nobody would have believed me,” the mother said. “I sacrificed my daughter, so all parents can realize what’s happening in this school.”

Some school districts in Florida allows corporal punishment, but this district (Hendry County School District) does not.

Michael Berry

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