Georgia Mother Forced To Make Tough Decision — Allow Teacher To Paddle Son Or Go To Jail
A Georgia mother was forced with a tough decision earlier this week — allow her son’s teacher to paddle him, or go to jail.
Shana Marie Perez shared a video of the incident on Facebook, and explained what exactly was taking place. She informed readers that she was told her son, 5-year-old Thomas, would be suspended if she didn’t allow his teacher to paddle him. If he was suspended, Perez would go to jail for truancy. According to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, Perez said she was arrested two weeks ago on truancy charges, booked into jail, and then released. If Thomas missed any more school days, she would have to go back to jail.
“They told me if he could not get a paddling he would have to be suspended and if he got suspended for even one day I WILL go to jail for truancy… Jasper county made me do this… I could not go to jail or my kids would have nothing… I can’t take care of my kids in jail… And I was not texting I was recording this… I couldn’t do anything to stop them,” Shana Perez captioned the video, which can be seen by clicking here. (Warning: some viewers may find the video disturbing.)
Georgia mom upset over video she recorded of school officials paddling her son.https://t.co/1aBMxxovw3 pic.twitter.com/BVaRMjOQy8
— FOX 12 Oregon KPTV (@fox12oregon) April 14, 2016
In the video, two unidentified women, which are assumed to be teachers or administrators, are seen trying to get Thomas to bend over so be can be spanked with a wooden paddle. Thomas is obviously distressed as his mom looks on, filming the entire time in an effort to document the incident.
As the video continues, the young boy cries out for his mother and begs the teachers not to spank him. The teachers try to hold him down, but the child continues to put up a fight, covering his rear with his hand as he cries uncontrollably. At one point, Thomas breaks free and walks back to his mom. At the same time, the teachers can be heard saying repeatedly, “He’s going to get a spanking. We have all the time in the world.”
Since Perez uploaded the video on Wednesday, it has been viewed nearly one million times, and shared over 20,000 times. According to a comment on Perez’s Facebook page, her son was in trouble over spitting and almost hitting another student. Despite his actions, however, viewers were outraged at how the situation was handled.
LIVE AT 4: Controversial video shows school principal paddling kindergarten student https://t.co/XkQDKrHuDN pic.twitter.com/6WoKYCk0FU
— WSB-TV (@wsbtv) April 14, 2016
“H— he’s a lil boy. he’s gone get in trouble. I’d b worried if he didn’t.but I think they went bout that s—all wrong…..” one viewer wrote, while another added, “I am so upset about this video. This is f—— child abuse. This is pure bulls— and someone please tell me this is illegal. Get your little boy out of that school! That’s not right!!!!! I’m so against other people spanking children unless it’s their parents. That’s f—— cruel. Them b—— are heartless. I’m incredibly upset that I even watched this.”
Another added, “This is horrible I would be moving out of that county no other person that’s a complete strange will never touch my kids s— take me to jail if I was going to jail it would be hitting them if they gonna charge me they better charge me for something worth charging for. Sorry u had to go threw this.”
Thomas, a student at Jasper County Primary School, has missed 18 days of school this year, many of them due to doctor’s appointments, according to Perez. Although Shana said she knew the school allowed paddling, she said she signed a form at the beginning of the school year that said he was not to be paddled under any circumstance.
[Photo via Shutterstock]