Photo Courtesy of WINK News
A Florida mother spoke out against two school administrators who emotionally and physically abused her six-year-old daughter.
On April 13, the mom, who wished to remain anonymous, was called to Central Elementary School in Clewiston, Florida (a city 80 miles northwest of Fort Lauderdale), in Hendry County, after her baby girl was accused of damaging a school computer, WINK News reported. Upon her arrival, she witnessed her child being chastised and paddled by the school’s principal Melissa Carter and her clerk, Cecilia Self.
The mother of the young girl who was beaten explained to the news outlet that she did not fully understand what’s happening in the classroom. The unidentified parent spoke Spanish during the interview with a WINK reporter. However, the woman did admit that she did not feel comfortable with the banned punishment, so she recorded the incident with her cellphone– as there were no cameras in the classroom.
Tahe child’s mother 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,” the worried mother cried.
Initially, the mom thought that she was solely there to pay a $50 fee for unnamed damages her daughter alllegedy caused to a school computer.
“My daughter was already in the office,” the woman said, in shock. “The principal started to scream.”
The mother said to the school staff at the time, “There were no cameras. What are we doing in this place? My daughter and I, alone.”
When asked why she recorded the traumatic incident, the mom explained that she didn’t think anyone would believe her.
“Nobody would have believed me,” she said. “I sacrificed my daughter, so all parents can realize what’s happening in this school.”
According to Hendry County School District policy, corporal punishment is not allowed. The family’s lawyer, Brent Probinsky, reported that Clewiston police turned over the investigation to the State Attorney’s Office.
The policy states, “The superintendent shall designate sanctions for the infractions of rules, excluding corporal punishment.”
It also mentions that any school procedures “do not demean students” and “do not tend to violate any individual rights constitutionally guaranteed to students.”
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“That’s aggravated battery. They’re using a weapon that can cause severe physical harm,” Probinsky said.
He added, “The child is terrified. She feels vulnerable. There’s nothing she can do in the hands of these adults, who treated her so brutally, savagely, sadistically.”
The child’s mother took her daughter to be seen by a medical professional who examined the marks and bruises left on her body. She now worries about the psychological damage that the traumatic experience may leave her daughter with.
According to Probinsky, the state attorney’s office is currently deciding whether they’ll criminally charge against Carter and Self.
“I’m going to get justice for my daughter because if I could not do it in front of her, I’m going to do it with justice,” the determined mother stated.