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Video shows Florida principal paddle 1st-grade student

WINK News reports the 6-year-old girl's mother took the video.
Credit: peshkov - stock.adobe.com

CLEWISTON, Fla. — A principal at an elementary school in southwest Florida is under investigation after a video showed her paddling a 6-year-old student, according to WINK News. 

WINK News reported the Central Elementary School principal, Melissa Carter, and school clerk Cecilia Self were recorded by the student's mother. 

On CBS This Morning, David Begnaud said the first-grader was beaten three times for "allegedly scratching a computer screen." 

The student's mother said it all started when she went to the school to pay a fine for the damage her daughter was accused of doing to a computer according to WINK News. 

A police report obtained by WINK News says the first-grader's mother mentioned paddling with her and a deputy present, but because of a language barrier, she didn't understand the process correctly. 

WINK News said when the 6-year-old's mother got to the school she was taken to the principal's office where it was just her, the clerk and the principal. 

The woman told WINK News she thought nobody would believe her about what was happening so she hid her phone in her purse and set it to record. She told the news station she "sacrificed my daughter, so all parents can realize what’s happening in this school.” 

WINK News said when it reached out to the Hendry County School District to see if Carter was still working there, school leaders told them "no comment."

WINK News reports the corporal punishment is not allowed by Hendry County School District policy. 

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