Florida parents are calling for the arrest of a local pastor who allegedly spanked his fourth graders with a belt at a private religious school.
Furious moms and dads claim cloth man Terence Gray walked into the classroom where their 9- and 10-year-old children were at St. Mark’s AME Church Alpha Learning Academy in Orlando on Thursday afternoon demanding to know which students were misbehaving. .
Gray allegedly demanded that the boys stand up and admit their bad behavior.
It’s unclear if any did, but the students’ teacher eventually turned in the misbehaving students and forced them to stand up, according to WFTV.
The pastor is accused of then removing his belt and whipping more than a dozen students three times, leaving some with bruises on their legs.
Facebook/San Marcos AME Orlando
“He said he was going to hit us with a belt because we were misbehaving,” student Shane Walker told WFTV.
The boy’s mother, Janesha Martin, said she was “very emotional” when she heard what happened.
“I don’t send my son to school so that no one abuses him,” he said, adding, “The pastor should have been arrested last night!”
Gray ran for Congress in 2021, touting his “positive” work in the community. Facebook/Saint Mark AME Orlando Young student Shane Walker said the pastor threatened to whip them because they were “misbehaving.”
When asked about the beating, Gray said the students volunteered to be spanked, Martin claimed.
“Pastor Gray said the children volunteered, which is a lie,” he said. “My son would never volunteer for… disciplinary action like that.”
Meanwhile, another mother, Kinshasa Felix, said she pulled her daughter out of school after she was beaten for drawing children’s drawings and passing them to students.
“What makes a man want to spank a child like that?” she asked.
Parents said the school handbook does not include spanking as an acceptable form of punishment at school. WFTV Janesha Martin, Walker’s mother, said the pastor claimed the students volunteered for the punishment.
The mother said that when she told school administrators that she was withdrawing her daughter, they gave her a form to sign, which stated that the reasons for the girl’s withdrawal were “academic.”
Felix insisted on writing “child abuse” instead.
The angry mothers said the school’s manual does not include spanking as an acceptable form of punishment, and although Gray is the senior pastor of the church that operates the school, he is not supposed to participate in its daily operations.
The director of Alpha Learning Academy did not immediately respond to a Post request for comment on Monday. A separate email sent to the email address listed for Gray on the church’s website was returned.
Gray has been senior pastor of St. Mark’s AME Church since 2004, according to his LinkedIn.
The pastor is running for Congress in 2021, touting his “positive” work in the community.Facebook/Saint Mark AME Orlando Gray was hired as senior pastor at St. Mark in 2004, according to his LinkedIn.Facebook/Saint Mark AME Orlando
His profile says: “My greatest joy is empowering people to become what God intended. Freeing them to leave the Egypts of their lives is the most important thing.”
Gray ran for Congress in 2021, touting his “positive” work in the community. He lost the race.
“His work to bring about positive change has been recognized with awards from the AME Church, the NAACP and the city of Macon. [Georgia]” his campaign website read.
Orlando police are now investigating the alleged beatings, saying they were called shortly after the students reported the whippings.
None of the children were seriously injured and no paramedics were called to the scene, according to WESH.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn