NAPLES, Fla. — A nationwide social media firestorm is centering around a Collier County School Board member over his support of corporal punishment.
In multiple interviews since the election, Jerry Rutherford has expressed his desire to see more discipline in classrooms including the use of corporal punishment.
More than three thousand people have written emails and social media messages calling for Rutherford, who was elected in November, to either resign from the school board or be removed.
He didn’t respond to Fox 4 Investigates.
“Congrats Jerry, now you have my full attention,” Laura Loray says in a video posted to Tik Tok that’s been viewed more than 25,000 times.
Loray is a psychiatric nurse practitioner from New Jersey with 300,000 online followers.
The social media influencer posted the video last week after learning about Rutherford’s views on corporal punishment.
Loray started an online campaign with an already written email calling Rutherford “abusive and abhorrent.”
The emails have been sent to Collier County Superintendent Dr. Kamala Patton and school board members Erick Carter and Stephanie Lucarelli.
Only the Governor can remove an elected official from the school board.
Governor DeSantis’s office didn’t respond to Fox 4 Investigates.
Rutherford has been a fixture at Collier County School Board meetings for more than three decades.
While he often spoke during the public comments section, this November was his first time running for public office.
Florida law does allow for corporal punishment if it’s approved on the local level.
Collier County Schools do not allow corporal punishment to be used.
It’s unclear if Rutherford plans to propose a policy to allow corporal punishment to be used.
“I would hope that that doesn’t happen. I also think there’s been a real cultural shift,” said Jackie Stephens, CEO of the Collier Children’s Advocacy Center.
“I think there’s really been about 50 years of research that really shows the negative effects of corporal punishment on children. And nothing that shows the benefit.”
“Our current board policy does not allow corporal punishment. In order for a policy to be changed it takes a first read then a second read. At two different board meetings, which they are customarily a month apart. That gives the public ample time to be heard by the board, on any policy/policy change,” Board Member Erick Carter told Fox 4 Investigates in a statement.
Kelly Lichter, who was also elected in November with Rutherford, blamed out-of-context reporting for the controversy.
“The leftist reporters from the Naples Daily News should be ashamed of themselves for targeting and vilifying Jerry Rutherford by taking his statements out of context. The Naples Daily News has been in the business of personal destruction against conservative individuals, and I have firsthand knowledge of their tactics. Our newly elected board has a lot of work to do, and we will not be distracted by manufactured so-called news,” Lichter said.
