A group of incensed Florida parents say their children were "whipped" at their prep school in Orlando, Florida, last week. Police responded to Alpha Learning Academy, which is run by the St. Mark AME church, Thursday afternoon in response to the allegations, ClickOrlando reports. Parents say a pastor at the church, who is not directly involved with the school, walked into the fourth-grade classroom and told students they'd be whipped with a belt for misbehaving, WFTV reports. They say he told any student who'd misbehaved to stand up unless they wanted an even worse punishment, then asked the teacher to point out any others who'd also misbehaved.
Parents say eight children were whipped with a belt, receiving three lashes each; at least one of them was left with bruises on his upper leg, his mother says. They say nothing like this has happened before during their time at the school, and showed media outlets the school handbook, which does not mention whipping. They are calling for the pastor to be arrested and the teacher involved to be held accountable; police confirm an investigation is underway. The parents also say the pastor is claiming the children volunteered to be whipped, which they say is a lie, and one mother says when she withdrew her daughter from the school, administrators tried to have her sign a form saying her reason had to do with academics; she made them change it to "child abuse." (More Florida stories.)
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