A look at what’s next in the Hendry County school paddling case

Hendry County District Schools has not released any information related to the student paddling at Central Elementary School in Clewiston since WINK News first reported about the video recording of it.

We do know corporal punishment is banned in Hendry County school district schools.

To get the perspective of a career educator, we spoke to Renalia DuBose, who has overseen these investigations before. We asked her about what happens when an educator is the center of questions about how they treat students.

DuBose is a former school administrator for Pasco, Hillsborough and Orange counties. She will tell you answers for a mistake on behalf of an entire school district starts with silence, or “At this time, we are currently involved in an active investigation. We are not at liberty to disclose how the investigation is going,’” DuBose explained.

DuBose has worked at schools in the three counties she was an admin; she’s trained principals; she’s worked in HR; she’s seen it all.

DuBose has also seen the video recorded by a student’s mother that shows the student being paddled by her principal with a school clerk present.

“This principal violated district policy,” DuBose said. “That is an offense that can lead to termination, and then of course, you get a due process hearing.”

In this case, if the school board recommends the principal be fired, the due process hearing would allow her to fight back with a lawyer.

DuBose told us there is a code of ethics for educators. That code demands educators make a reasonable effort to protect a student’s mental and or physical health and safety.

“Is that reasonable? Is that being reasonable? And I would argue it may rise to the level of child abuse,” DuBose said.

The answer is critical to the student’s family, their attorney said. But all they’ve heard is some school board members show support for the principal during Tuesday night’s board meeting.

“She loves children. She’s a wonderful educator. That’s all great,” said Attorney Brent Probinsksy, the family’s lawyer. “She also beats children savagely. No one wanted to talk about that.”

We reached out to each school board member Wednesday over email, and again, we did not hear back. The school district will also continue not to share comment. The principal and clerk recorded in the video have not responded to calls either.