Two Florida middle-school teens were suspended this week for a brief hug in the hallway.
Florida Today reports that Southwest Middle eight-grader Nick Martinez, 14, was suspended Nov. 1 when the principal of the Palm Bay, Fla., school in Brevard County witnessed him hugging his best female friend.
Brevard school officials and principal Todd Scheuerer said Martinez violated the school's longtime, no-hug policy, which is in the student handbook and online.
Martinez's mother, Nancy Crescente, tells WKMG-TV that she was "livid" about the punishment, and even the principal told WKMG that the hug was innocent.
This is why zero tolerance is an epic fail. It excuses the administration from having to look and think about the facts before making a judgment. In this case, the students who hugged were both okay with it... so why is this a bad thing? I can understand if she felt uncomfortable, but a "no hug" rule is ridiculous, and surely not helpful to the students who are under the rule.
When the principal even admits it is an innocent hug, that's enough to tell me this is bogus. We want kids to learn how to act appropriately, and when parting ways with a friend a hug can be appropriate.
Just for clarity let's look at it this way: bullying and hate speech can go under the radar, but a hug cannot. Something mighty wrong is going on.
No comments:
Post a Comment