Principal Beats 3 Year Old (and Newspaper Make Hilarious Typo)

[JCMach1]

NOTHING FUNNY ABOUT THE 3 YEAR OLD PART

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A Palatka family says that their granddaughter was paddled at Peniel Academy without their consent and are filing charges against the principal.

A call to Peniel Academy Principal Bonnell Jenkins from the Daily News was returned, but he said he could not comment about the situation while the investigation is ongoing... When she arrived, she met with Jenkins, who advised her as to how Tiana was acting and suggested solutions. Louis said it was only her third day of school and she was still adjusting, and wanted to take her home for the rest of the day. She said Jenkins replied that if she took Tiana out, she would be “letting a 3-year-old win over her.”

As a result, she left the campus and said Tiana was forced to stand in the corner as punishment for her behavior. When Louis called the school two hours later to check on her daughter, she was told that she was still standing in the corner.

Believing that punishment too harsh, Louis came and checked her daughter out of school, but Tiana yelped in pain when her mother touched her back side while walking out of the school. She asked her daughter what was wrong and Tiana told her that, “Mr. Principal (Jenkins) beat her with a swat,” according to the sheriff’s report. She examined her daughter behind, found that it was red and called the sheriff’s office... Since the incident and the police report, the Florida Department of Children and Families want the sides to reconcile, the elder Louis said. He said he is disgusted by such a response.

“The DCF wants me to make an agreement with the principal,” he said. “This is child abuse. If we did this we would be in big trouble (with DCF).”

Louis said his grandaughter told them Jenkins used a wooden switch against her. Jenkins told police he hit her with his hand.

“She said, ‘No, daddy, he hit me with a stick,’” Louis said. “’I layed down on the bed and he just whack, whack, whack and swatted me.’ One side of her behind was red when she got home.”

Since the incident, the Louises have removed Tiana from the school, but they said the girl becomes traumatized if they even drive in the direction of Penile Baptist Academy... http://palatkadailynews.com/articles/2007/09/06/news/news01.txt


I WANTED TO LAUGH AND CRY AT THE SAME TIME...

[MsKandice01]

1. I shouldn't laugh.....

But I am...

And by the way, kids got paddled at the Lutheran School that I went to as a child and I'm not that old (31). I don't think it started that young but back then, this wouldn't have been news at all, as sad as that is.

[JCMach1]

2. I am afraid that is the state of affairS at PENILE BAPTIST ACCADEMY

[TreasonousBastard]

5. We got paddled at a Lutheran school back in the '60s, too...

and I'm convinced the typo came from the spell check that "corrected" the school name.

[rasputin1952]

20. I do believe my name was emblazoned on said pieces of wood...

Many a time I stood before the calss "assuming the position". Got popped in the back of the head w/a steel ruler once when I lost my place in 1st Kings too...

[wicket]

23. Kids got spanked at my school in the 1980's

This was a public school in Vermont...

[Toots]

25. It is because children were beaten with paddles that America stayed such a non-violent country.

:shrug: When you hit children you teach them that hitting is the way to get what you want..

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. What kind of sick $#@% hits a 3 year old with a wooden paddle? Did principal enjoy it?

[sandnsea]

4. And 2 hours in the corner??

Good lord. I would have wondered with the "letting a 3 year old win you over" comment. That's just not the kind of comment I want to hear out of a pre-school educator who really has skills to provide structure and nurturing to toddlers. That's someone who believes parenting is primarily a power struggle, and that attitude guarantees it will be. Horrible school.

[JCMach1]

7. I would think the only way you could get a 3 year old to do that would be to beat them

... Also, the reactions of the DCF in this case are also criminal!

[mike_c]

6. the penile baptist academy, huh...?

:rofl:

[ChairmanAgnostic]

21. implanted ideas.

a hard issue to reconcile. Wait, it will come to me.

[JCMach1]

8. Ummm, can we nominate this Principal for Top 10 Conservative Idiots?

Actually, think I will send the piece to KO as well...

[silverojo]

9. Question 1:

Why the HELL is a 3-year-old in a school with a "principal"? When will parents quit being so damned lazy and do preschool teaching at home?

Pretty soon, people aren't going to be happy until a mother gives birth to an infant, and someone will swoop down to grab the newborn, still covered with goo, to a preschool classroom. Child abusers and molesters will have a field day.

Enough already--if you don't want to teach your kids, DON'T HAVE THEM.

[Berry Cool]

10. Maybe it's not laziness? Maybe the parents have to work?

Personally I'd have the child in "daycare," not "school." I think a 3-year-old is too young for "school."

And are you really saying that child abusers and molesters are going to get to any kid who isn't homeschooled (or at least homeschooled until they're of some age that magically makes them "safe" from abuse and molestation)? I hope not.

[LibertyLover]

29. Why do parents put their children in pre-school?

Well, we put our now 5 year old and attending kindergarten daughter in pre-school at the age of 3 so that she had other children to play with and to learn how to interact with them. Our street doesn't have many young children on it at the moment so we felt it would be a good thing for her to have other kids her age to play with. She went 2 days a week for half a day and loved it. It also meant that her father, who stays home with her, had some time without her to get some things done around the house that are easier and safer to do without having to worry about a 3 year old trying to help.

[ThomWV]

11. I've seen 3-year-olds who should have been tossed off a bridge (along with their parents)

So to be quite honest about it I don't care ...

[KitchenWitch]

12. How progressive of you.

[ThomWV]

14. It is a refreshing change, isn't it? I despise unruly children.

[The Vinyl Ripper]

15. ****All**** children are unruly sometimes..

And you were too..

I despise hypocritical jerks.

[notadmblnd]

19. I don't despise unruly children. It's the parents that are the problem.

Despise them, they have no business bringing children into the world if they're not willing to do what it takes to raise them into responsible productive beings. Personally I don't believe that one should bring children into this world and turn them over to strangers to raise. If ones career is that important or one has no time to invest in raising their offspring themselves, then perhaps one should delay reproduction?

[Forkboy]

22. That's just fucking dumb.

It's a THREE YEAR OLD KID. What the fuck is the matter with you? What happened in your life to make you have such a total lack of empathy?

[Stuckinthebush]

26. Jesus Christ...!

Have some coffee and rethink that will ya?

[The Vinyl Ripper]

13. Baptists..

In Florida..

Spare the rod, spoil the child.

They misinterpret that scripture.

A rod in those days was the shepherd's rod (Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me) and were used to guide the sheep not beat them.

[MiniMe]

16. Perhaps it wasn't a typo

But a comment by the journalist that the editors didn't find

[Ms. Toad]

17. It's a private school

While I don't approve of paddling a child, the parents should have checked out the disciplinary policy before they enrolled their daughter to make sure the school's policy was consistent with their disciplinary expectations. Next thing you know they will be complaining that the school is teaching their child about Christ (despite the fact that they are sending their child to a school that advertises that all of its faculty are required to be "born again" and regularly attend religious services). http://www.penielacademy.org/introduction.htm

Now - if this were a public school, I'd volunteer to go with them to the principal's office, then the superintendent's, at the school board meeting, and then to court if they didn't get satisfaction somewhere else along the line.

[JCMach1]

18. What I remember of Florida law, you cannot spank in public, OR private schools

it is illegal.

[Ms. Toad]

24. It is legal in public schools in Florida

http://www.flsenate.gov/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=Ch1003/Sec32.HTM

Title XLVIII K-20 EDUCATION CODE
Chapter 1003 PUBLIC K-12 EDUCATION

1003.32 Authority of teacher; responsibility for control of students; district school board and principal duties.-

(1) In accordance with this section and within the framework of the district school board's code of student conduct, teachers and other instructional personnel shall have the authority to undertake any of the following actions in managing student behavior and ensuring the safety of all students in their classes and school and their opportunity to learn in an orderly and disciplined classroom:


. . .


(k) Use corporal punishment according to school board policy and at least the following procedures, if a teacher feels that corporal punishment is necessary:

1. The use of corporal punishment shall be approved in principle by the principal before it is used, but approval is not necessary for each specific instance in which it is used. The principal shall prepare guidelines for administering such punishment which identify the types of punishable offenses, the conditions under which the punishment shall be administered, and the specific personnel on the school staff authorized to administer the punishment.

2. A teacher or principal may administer corporal punishment only in the presence of another adult who is informed beforehand, and in the student's presence, of the reason for the punishment.

3. A teacher or principal who has administered punishment shall, upon request, provide the student's parent with a written explanation of the reason for the punishment and the name of the other adult who was present.

Private schools generally have even more freedom, since attendance is by choice rather than mandate.

Even though corporal punishment is legally permitted in public schools, I would still support the parent in challenging the law with respect to public schools, since parents do not generally have an option to choose a different public school to send their child to. (If the child were older, I would also support the child who wanted to challenge either public school or parental disciplinary practices which involved corporal punishment.)

On the other hand, when you choose a private school for your child, you are entering into a voluntary contract with that school to educate your child in accordance with their practices. If you don't like their practices, the time to find out is before you enter into the contract - not to complain after the fact that you don't like the bargain you struck. (And yes, when I enrolled my daughter in preschool and childcare for after school when she was not old enough to stay by herself I did ask about disciplinary practices and would not have enrolled her anywhere that utilized corporal punishment.)

[JitterbugPerfume]

27. A thre year old is to young to be in school

PERIOD.

I have seen three year olds that were completely out of control and in bad need of some kind of structure, but a beating (by anyone, let alone a stranger)is criminal as well as counter productive.

What in the world is the matter with these people?

Penile indeed!

[Orsino]

28. That's America.

We had to bomb Afghani civilians so the 9/11 hijackers wouldn't "win."

No three-year-old is so important that a school principal shouldn't do likewise.

[flvegan]

30. "...layed down on the bed and he..."

So, this must be some form of daycare facility as well (according to their website, they offer services to 2 years old and up). Since there are beds there, there must be some form of nap time. Surely there are witnesses to this spanking (as to the switch v hand) as at no time would a young girl be alone with an adult in a room with beds.

Maybe I'm just paranoid for kids these days.

[The Vinyl Ripper]

31. But this is a Baptist school

We all know nothing untoward could happen there..

[LeftyMom]

32. Yeah, that part is seriesly creepy.

And the girl's ongoing reaction is much too severe for only a spanking. I would not be surprised at all, sadly.