Video Shows Principal Paddling 6Year Old Girl In Front Of Horrified Mom

In a leaked video, an elementary school principal and her assistant restrain a 6-year-old girl and deliver a series of heavy blows with a large wooden paddle. After the incident, the little girl’s mother decided to speak out.

When the mother of a young student received a call that her daughter had acted up in class and damaged a computer, the woman was prepared to compensate the school for the repairs. What she didn’t realize was that Central Elementary School Principal Melissa Carter intended to make the child pay as well. 

According to WINK News, the unnamed mother was informed over the phone that she would owe the Florida school $50 for the damage her 6-year-old daughter did to a classroom computer. As a native Spanish speaker with little understanding of English, the mother understood that there would be a fine but claims she didn’t comprehend what the school official meant when they mentioned the subject of “paddling.” Although she says she arrived at the school to pay the fee, the woman was ushered into the principal’s office.

The mother was shown a front-row seat to her daughter’s punishment as the little girl sat in a chair flanked by Principal Melissa Carter and school clerk Cecilia Self. As the principal pulled out a heavy wooden paddle and showed it to the child, the mother says she then realized what was about to happen. The woman, who says she became nervous that were no cameras or police in the room, slid her cell phone from her purse to secretly record the act. The video shows Carter and Self restraining the child and bending her over so that the paddling can begin. “Finally you understand what’s going on,” Self tells the crying child as she positions her before adding, “Put your butt out.” The mother told the media that she wants “justice” for her daughter but admits she allowed the punishment to take place so that she could expose what goes on in the school. The mother also says she took her daughter to the doctor the same day of the paddling to confirm that bruises and red marks on her buttocks were from the punishment. Both Carter and Self were placed under investigation, facing serious federal charges. While many Florida counties allow school officials to engage in corporal punishment, Hendry County School district policy forbids it. Of course, viewers who saw the footage on social media had mixed feelings on the issue of paddling by school officials. Others laid the blame on the mother, who failed to intervene in what she believed to be the abuse of her child. 

The legality of the punishment is clear: if the school district prohibits its employees from such discipline, the principal and clerk are in the wrong. However, morality is another issue.