Georgia Mother Secretly Records Son Being Paddled By School Administrators

MONTICELLO, Ga. (CBSNewYork) -- A 5-year-old boy was held down and threatened with a wooden paddle for misbehaving at a Georgia school.

His mother gave school administrators permission to do it, and secretly recorded it.

As CBS News' Mark Strassman reported, she now regrets the decision.

"What happened at that school Wednesday was not a paddling, it was not a spanking, it was abuse," Shana Perez said.

The principal and assistant principal said they were punishing the boy, Thomas Perez, with a paddle because he got in a fight and spit on another student.

The two administrators from Jasper County Primary School tried to get the kindergartner to stand still.

Perez said she was told to allow the punishment or the boy would be suspended.

"It was either let them paddle him or go back to jail for truancy," she said.

Perez said she was arrested earlier in the year because her son had eighteen unexcused absences.

"When corporal punishment is used, it is with parental consent. The district is investigating the incident and looking into its' discipline policies," Jasper County Schools said in a statement.

Georgia is among 19 states that allow children to be hit in public schools.

"In the state of Georgia, corporal punishment is not a crime," Jasper County Sheriff Donnie Pope said.

In many places parental permission is required.

"I shouldn't have been worried about going to jail. I should have been worried about my father's safety, but at the same time I didn't know it was going to happen like that," Perez said.

A Facebook post of the incident has about 2 million views and counting.