Florida pastor accused of using a BELT to beat fourth-grade students at a private religious school

Parents at a private religious school in Florida are demanding criminal charges be filed against a pastor after he took off his belt to hit children in a fourth-grade classroom.

Pastor Terence Gray allegedly entered the class of nine- and 10-year-olds at St. Mark AME Church’s Alpha Learning Academy in Orlando on Thursday afternoon, demanding to know which children were behaving badly.

The pastor is said to have walked into the classroom and asked the children to stand up and admit to ‘bad behaviour’, before threatening to impose an even harsher punishment.

The teacher then took the misbehaving children outside and made them stand up.

After the children lined up, Pastor Gray took off the belt he wore around his pants and individually gave the students three lashes, some of whom left bruises on their thighs.

“He said he was going to hit us with a belt because we had been bad,” said one student, Shane Walker, who had been at the school for seven years.

Although Gray is the pastor of the church associated with the school, parents say he is not supposed to be involved in the day-to-day operations of the educational institution.

“He said he was going to hit us with a belt because we had been bad,” one student, Shane Walker, who had been at the school for seven years, said WFTV.

Janesha Martin, Walker’s mother, was angry when she learned of the cruel and unusual punishment.

‘This really makes me emotional. “I will not send my child to school to be abused by anyone,” she said. The pastor should have been arrested last night!’

Martin has since removed Walker from the school noting that such incidents had never occurred before.

Pastor Terence Gray allegedly entered the classroom of nine- and 10-year-olds at St. Mark AME Church’s Alpha Learning Academy in Orlando on Thursday afternoon and demanded to know which children were behaving badly.

The pastor allegedly walked into the classroom and asked the children to stand up and admit to ‘bad behavior’, or threatened to mete out an even harsher punishment

She pointed out that she also never consented to physical punishment being administered, despite the school saying her child had volunteered to be spanked.

“They were crying hysterically and calling their parents,” said another parent WESH.

“Pastor Gray said the kids volunteered, which is a lie,” Martin said WFTV. “My child would never voluntarily take such disciplinary action.”

The school manual does not mention whipping as an acceptable form of punishment.

Another parent, Kinshasa Felix, also pulled her daughter out of class after she was beaten for drawing pictures of children and passing them around the class.

“What makes a man want to hit a child like that?” Felix asked.

Parents at St. Marks Preparatory School in Florida are calling for charges against a pastor after allegations he used a belt to beat fourth-graders

Although Gray is the pastor of the church associated with the school, he is not expected to be involved in the day-to-day operations of the educational institution.

When her daughter was withdrawn from school, the staff gave her a form to sign indicating that the reasons for withdrawal were “academic.”

Felix insisted on writing “child abuse” instead.

Corporal punishment is legal in the state, but some parents are calling for criminal charges to be filed against the pastor.

Orlando police are now conducting an investigation, with both Martin and Felix having both been interviewed by a detective.

Shortly after the assault, the police were called. Parents say none of the children were seriously injured and no paramedics were called.

DailyMail.com has contacted the school and pastor for comment.