She says she was told Wednesday that if she prevented or tried to intervene in her son’s paddling, he would instead be suspended – and she would in turn face jail time over her son’s absence from school, thanks to her earlier arrest.
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Five-year-old Thomas Perez can be seen wailing in the video and trying to escape the paddling at Jasper County Primary School as his mother records the whole thing.
Perez says she is out of jail on bond, and on Wednesday was at the school when the administrators tried to paddle her son once, for a discipline issue.
Perez said she was arrested two weeks ago because her son had 18 unexcused absences.
She secretly recorded as the boy was held down and threatened with a wooden paddle at his school, southeast of Atlanta.
“I was not present when she went to the Truancy Review Board, but I feel certain that the board would make any accommodations that they can to try and keep it from becoming excessive”, Pope added. I can’t take care of my kids in jail…
It is not a crime in Georgia to have corporal punishment; the school has a policy for corporal punishment, ‘ Pope told FOX 5.
Another option considered by the Jasper County School District.
“You’re going to get spanked now”, one of the administrators says.
The second video shows the brief aftermath: the child crying and the school administrators trying to calm him down.
“I know it was terrible at the time”.
Jasper County Sheriff Donnie Pope said Perez had been previously arrested for truancy, but was not under a threat of being rearrested. That’s not right!!!!! I’m so against other people spanking children unless it’s their parents.
Officials with the Jasper County School District released a statement on the district’s website saying they are aware of Perez’s video but can not comment “about the specifics of this incident” due to state and federal privacy laws. On average, one child is hit in public school every 30 seconds somewhere in the United States.
Often, school districts give parents and/or students the choice of paddling or suspension from school as forms of punishment.
According to an NBC report, a school statement said that corporal punishment is permitted as a effect to bad behavior under school rules, and that when corporal punishment is used, it is with parental consent. Thomas is obviously distressed as his mom looks on, filming the entire time in an effort to document the incident.
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Perez described the dispute with school administrators as longstanding and attributed it to her son’s medical problems.
