CLEWISTON, Fla. (AP) — Officials say a Florida elementary school principal will not be prosecuted for spanking a 6-year-old girl in front of her mother last month.
Prosecutors released a memo Friday explaining that corporal punishment is legal in Florida and that the principal of Central Elementary School in Clewiston appeared to have explicit permission from the child’s mother.
A video secretly taken by the mother and later turned over to law enforcement shows the principal and a staff member holding the girl in place while the principal spanks her three times.
Prosecutors say edited portions of the original video had been released to the news media, resulting in an incomplete or misleading account.
