Kids are touching each other in our schools...Everybody PANIC!!!

[#54]

Giving high-fives at this school will get you detention This is oh so friggin' :lame:

VIENNA, Virginia (AP) -- A show of affection almost landed a teenage boy in detention.

Hugging was 13-year-old Hal Beaulieu's crime when he sat next to his girlfriend at lunch a few months ago and put his arm around her shoulder. He was let off with a warning, but the cost of a repeat offense could be detention.

A rule against physical contact at Kilmer Middle School, about 10 miles west of Washington, is so strict that students can be sent to the principal's office for hugging, holding hands or even high-fiving.

"I think hugging is a good thing," said Hal, a seventh-grader. "I put my arm around her. It was like for 15 seconds. I didn't think it would be a big deal."

Unlike some schools, which ban fighting or inappropriate touching, Kilmer Middle School bans all touching.

But that doesn't seem necessary to Hal and his parents. They've sent a letter asking the county school board to review the rule.

But at a school of 1,100 students that was meant to accommodate 850, school officials think touching can turn into a big deal. They've seen pokes lead to fights, gang signs in the form of handshakes and girls who are uncomfortable being hugged but embarrassed to say anything.

"You get into shades of gray," Kilmer Principal Deborah Hernandez said. "The kids say, 'If he can high-five, then I can do this.' " (What "this"? Shoot, knife or beat the shit out of somebody? Is that what this school is so afraid of?)

Hernandez said the no-touching rule is meant to ensure that students are comfortable and that crowded hallways and lunchrooms stay safe. She said school officials are allowed to use their judgment in enforcing the rule. Typically, only repeat offenders are reprimanded.

EDIT: Do they the kids that take part in school sports for high-fiving each other?

[cka203]

OMG! This is outrageous and must stop!

(The PC crap, I mean)

Honestly, I can see trying to curb lewd behavior, but am arm around the shoulder and high-fives?

They must really fly into a frenzy when the football team slaps each other on the butt! !

[daedge]

Originally posted by cka203 on 06-19-2007 at 07:29 PM
OMG! This is outrageous and must stop!

(The PC crap, I mean)

Honestly, I can see trying to curb lewd behavior, but am arm around the shoulder and high-fives?

They must really fly into a frenzy when the football team slaps each other on the butt! !

yeah they say NZ is a PC country, this is just pathetic

[Oswlek]

I have found that physical contact of any kind with another human being only leads to bad things.

Thank God for the internet

Edited to add that frankly, I feel that even eye contact should be eliminated from our schools. Wouldn't want anyone giving each other threatening glances now would we?

[harrisonhits]

Next thing you know they won't be allowed to touch themselves.

[ICB]

Originally posted by harrisonhits on 06-19-2007 at 09:29 PM
Next thing you know they won't be allowed to touch themselves.

[grog]

Geez, and to think way back in the day we used to give tittie twisters at recess....

[Baron Samedi]

My friends have a boy in kindergarten, and they have a "no-touch" policy as well...none at all.
This is just another case of the schools overreacting to anecdotal incidents and making sweeping policy to protect themselves from liability. I can't say that I blame them with all the parents filing lawsuits left and right trying to cash in.

On the other hand, remeber that story about showing "Brokeback Mountain" to the 6th graders? That's OK, I guess.

[PatsFan09]

Originally posted by Baron Samedi on 06-20-2007 at 08:22 AM
This is just another case of the schools overreacting to anecdotal incidents and making sweeping policy to protect themselves from liability. I can't say that I blame them with all the parents filing lawsuits left and right trying to cash in.

Excellent point; everyone is so sue-happy, in all areas of society, that everyone seems to be going to extremes to protect themselves.

[PSC_Pats_Fan]

Yeah, this is pretty dumb.


I can see a "no genital touching rule" a "no punching/kicking/slapping" rule.. even a "no kancho rule"


But no highfives or hugs? :lame:

[JD10367]

TTIUWP.

Preferably of senior-class cheerleaders touching each other in the shower.

JMO.

[mikiemo83]

I wonder if the football team only runs out of the shotgun?

[southcarolina]