IWF recently highlighted the shenanigans that often come along with sexual harassment policies on campus. Two news stories today, indicate similar problems exist on the K-12 level.
First, from Illinois:
A 13-year-old junior high school student was given two days of detention after school officials spotted her hugging friends after school last Friday.
Megan Coulter, an eighth-grade student at Mascoutah Middle School, was hugging her friends goodbye after school Friday when vice principal, Randy Blakely, saw her and told her she would receive two after-school detentions.
Then, from Alabama:
The debate of public displays of affection in school is hitting home in Alabama. The mother of a student in Autauga County says her daughter was disciplined for simply hugging a friend....
She says the hug wasn't meant to be sexual. She says her daughter was consoling a male friend who recently lost a parent.
The goal of a harassment policy isn't to be the hug police, it is to stop legitimate harassment. When schools include activities such as hugging in these policies, they are trivializing harassment and doing a disservice to their students.
3 Comments
George Atkisson | November 7, 2007, 5:18pm | #
This is standard bureaucracy-think at work. It is too hard to make individual judgement calls. They might be held accountable, or even sued. Therefore they ban ALL touching and thus no longer have to defend any decisions or give explanations.
"I'm just following policy. Don't complain to me." It's the modern version of "I was just following orders!"
Changing this mindset is impossible. It's what bureaucrats do. The only alternative is private or charter schools which can set their own rules. Of course, the bureaucracy fights this tooth and nail (see Utah) because bureaucracies NEVER willingly give up power. The solution is political, and requires electing officials with school vouchers as part of their avowed platform who have both sufficient public and financial support to oppose the educational bureaucracy
Caroline | November 8, 2007, 2:18am | #
Hasn't the Alabama school system proven time and time again that it is over the top about everything? First they try to keep Harry Potter out of school and now they're banning hugs.
Alabama, you are lame.
Did the boy who recieved the hug also get detention?
An independent woman | November 9, 2007, 8:47pm | #
I have an eerie feeling there is more going on than what has been reported. I wonder if the hugs were "more than friendly" in some way, i.e., same-sex public displays of affection.