PORT CHARLOTTE -- The director of a parochial school was arrested after paddling an 8-year-old student as punishment for lying, officials said.Paul King, director of Charlotte Regional Christian Academy, was arrested Monday and charged with aggravated child abuse for spanking the girl twice with a board, officials said.
"I'm shocked charges were filed," said King, a pastor at Harborview Christian Church. "I look forward to being vindicated."
King was released from Charlotte County jail after posting $20,000 bail.
Students at the academy are disciplined with paddling as a last resort after other punishments fail, King said. Parents must sign a note agreeing with the policy before their children enroll, he said.
Tammy Pipkin, the girl's mother, said her daughter received a severe beating. Hours after the May 11 incident, the girl had a mark about 4 inches wide and 6 inches long with welts standing out a quarter of an inch, she said.
Pipkin, of Port Charlotte, said she pulled her daughter out of the school after the punishment.
King said he used a paddle for the spanking, while a school volunteer who witnessed it said King used a piece of wood.
The girl was disciplined after she repeatedly lied and gossiped, King said. Earlier the same day, she had been ordered to squat against a wall for 15 minutes and write a biblical phrase 50 times, he said.
Pipkin said King had put two older students in charge of her daughter's classroom. There was friction between the 8 year old and the older students, and King took their word over her daughter's, she said.
King is scheduled to be arraigned July 19.