Posted on 06/18/2007 8:46:38 AM PDT by Constitutionalist Conservative
Fairfax County middle school student Hal Beaulieu hopped up from his lunch table one day a few months ago, sat next to his girlfriend and slipped his arm around her shoulder. That landed him a trip to the school office.
Among his crimes: hugging.
All touching -- not only fighting or inappropriate touching -- is against the rules at Kilmer Middle School in Vienna. Hand-holding, handshakes and high-fives? Banned. The rule has been conveyed to students this way: "NO PHYSICAL CONTACT!!!!!"
School officials say the rule helps keep crowded hallways and lunchrooms safe and orderly, and ensures that all students are comfortable. But Hal, 13, and his parents think the school's hands-off approach goes too far, and they are lobbying for a change.
"I think hugging is a good thing," said Hal, a seventh-grader, a few days before the end of the school year. "I put my arm around her. It was like for 15 seconds. I didn't think it would be a big deal."
A Fairfax schools spokesman said there is no countywide ban like the one at Kilmer, but many middle schools and some elementary schools have similar "keep your hands to yourself" rules. Officials in Arlington, Loudoun and Prince George's counties said schools in those systems prohibit inappropriate touching and disruptive behavior but don't forbid all contact.
Deborah Hernandez, Kilmer's principal, said the rule makes sense in a school that was built for 850 students but houses 1,100. She said that students should have their personal space protected and that many lack the maturity to understand what is acceptable or welcome.
"You get into shades of gray," Hernandez said. "The kids say, 'If he can high-five, then I can do this.' "
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Our schools are run by idiots and pedants. That any student manages to navigate them with their brains still intact is a miracle.
((just shaking my head))
This is so true-how can you ask students to respect such moranic rules and the idiots who make up such rules. What happens is kids decide not to listen to or believe anything these fools tell them. Who can blame them?
I agree. You just know that some committee came up with this. And no one saw how stupid it really was.
I suppose the varsity football team actually plays flag football to keep with the policy
Well, I guess “Good Touch - Bad Touch” is out the window...
Then I guess swirlies are out of the question...
Chinese School has just begun, no more laughing, no more fun. If you show your teeth or tongue, you must pay a penalty.
I know this is tangential to your point, but I thought it worth a remark... In Chinese school classrooms, physical contact is impossible to avoid. I had the opportunity to visit a couple of high schools in PRC a few years ago. Each classroom had approx 50 students in it, and they were sitting literally shoulder-to-shoulder.
Didn’t the teacher’s union go on strike?
From the county that tells you how many trees to plant in your yard. Comply or go to jail. Glad I moved.
I wonder if these ridiculous rules were passed by the same people who say we need to stop going after petty criminals and that we have to let some criminals out of jail because we don’t have the people and infrastructure needed to enforce the laws.
My friend’s 12 YEAR OLD daughter had a boy walk up to her in the hall, pin her arms behind her and shove his tongue down her throat.
That’s SEXUAL ASSAULT.
Because no staff or faculty saw it, HE GOT AWAY WITH IT!
I say keep them apart.
Mrs. Z, there's a universe of difference between sexual assault and a kid patting his buddy on the back.
How would a rule make a difference if nobody witnessed it?
Our schools are controlled by idiot rabid parents, their lawyers and administers who cower down to them.
Lawyers, psychologist, activist parents, and a pacifist public have turned our public school system in to a failed social experiment.
Touching would be easier to prove and have a lighter “sentence”.
It would go on the record and maybe slow him from future garbage.
Here’s the email address for the principal:
Deborah.Hernandez@fcps.edu
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