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Florida principal under investigation for paddling 6-year-old student

Florida principal seen on camera spanking young girl ( PHOTO & VIDEO -- WPLG | Brent Probinsky

CLEWISTON, Fla.WARNING: This story contains material that some viewers may find disturbing due to the graphic nature of the material.

Police are investigating an elementary school principal in Florida after a child’s mother recorded the principal paddling her six-year-old.

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The principal, Melissa Carter of Central Elementary School in Clewiston, Fla., struck the girl with a paddle last month as punishment, according to cellphone video of the episode and the Hendry County Sheriff’s Office.

Corporal punishment is legal in 19 states, including Florida. It is legal in 20 Florida counties, but not in Hendry County (where the incident took place). The Clewiston Police Department and the Department of Children and Families are both investigating the incident, according to WINK.

Duval County, once the state’s paddling leader, abolished corporal punishment in 2005, Folio Weekly reports.

Watch the video below for more information on the story.

Here are the states still using corporal punishment, according to the Education Commission of the States, as of August 2018: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming.


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