Posted on 03/01/2008 8:21:41 AM PST by inkling
Sweet smoking Judas, you’ve gotta be kidding me. Mesa Public Schools has instituted a No Hugging Policy?
A group of Shepherd Junior High School students in east Mesa protested a new school policy banning student hugs with a giant group hug on Friday.
Students waited until school was dismissed before gathering across the street from the campus to begin hugging each other and then chanting, "We want hugs."
Some kids sat on the shoulders of their friends during the display.
The public display of affection and chanting came at 3:45 p.m. and lasted about 20 minutes.
Neither principal Eileen Cahoon nor Kathy Bareiss, spokeswoman for Mesa Public Schools, immediately returned calls seeking comment about the new anti-hugging policy and student reaction to it.
The new rule was announced Wednesday.
One student, 14-year-old Chelsea Burnham, said she had to serve an hour detention Thursday after the new rule for hugging a friend. She also was forced to read the school's new "public display of affection" policy.
Detention for hugging?! Words fail me. If they don't change this, someone better be out of a job.
My name ees speedy gonzales, two seconds ees plenty.
And I know the Mesa community. It ain't gonna happen here. Guaranteed.
Oh, and Arizona has a long and rich history of turning down federal funding because we strongly believe that we are going to do things however we see fit, and no one gets to tell us otherwise because of ‘strings attached’ money.
No earlier reports mentioned any two-second allowance, but repeatedly stressed that no hugs were allowed. It seems like Mesa P.S. is trying to play CYA after the fact.
Detention for hugging seems a bit much.
However, hugging is seriously overrated. I always say no unless you’re really a very close friend. Discernment is a good thing.
You could even make a case for casual hugging leading to sexual excess.
Myself I can't settle for less than 2.76 seconds.
Let’s hope you’re right. It is law in the state of AZ that sex-ed be taught so hopefully the Mesa School board won’t want (”need”) money so badly that they will be willing to compromise on the abstinence curriculum. Unfortunately money talks, loudly. Diligence.
Yes, and in that same vein you could make the case that being equipped with male or female genitalia leads to such excesses also.
Actually if one considers that Schools are in essence the cause of much sexual excess being children spend many hours a day in close proximity to one another, and engage in many activities that stimulate the libido we need to consider the implications
Maybe we need to rethink Schools in general and just have kids stay at home and uses a computer terminal to get their education. Then we remove the Hugging/sexual excess issue altogether.
No earlier reports mentioned any two-second allowance, but repeatedly stressed that no hugs were allowed. It seems like Mesa P.S. is trying to play CYA after the fact.
It may very well be true the article you cited was changed after your initial commentary on it, in which case it could certainly be understandable that you would interpret it as an overreacting zero tolerance policy. However, unless you are challenging the article's claim that these policy details were provided to the students before the protest then I cannot see how you can think it is the school that is playing CYA.
And I would be interested to see the report that gave details on the duration and circumstances of your poster girl's hug. You must have these, since you are now saying it was a 'quick hug', right?
Finally, it is unbecomingly obtuse to assert that a stopwatch is essential to determine if a hug is a greeting or a lingering, inappropriate sexual act. Or are you saying that the policy would be acceptable if it was really enforced by stopwatch instead of common sense?
You are legally correct, it is harassment. Third-party harassment, specifically. If some third person sees the hug, she can declare it harassment to her, even though she had nothing to do with the hug.
Don't shoot me, I'm the messenger.
A new crackdown on public displays of affection was clarified by principal Eileen Cahoon on Friday after students protested her ban on hugging in the hallways...
The principal said the crackdown initiated this week prohibited most physical contact other than shaking hands and “standing very close to each other.” Put simply, she said: “PDA’s are not allowed on campus.”
Cahoon said the punishment for public displays of affection can range from a verbal warning to suspension.
So Cahoon told the students earlier this week that hugging and other public displays of affection would no longer be tolerated. This included casual hugs between friends of the same gender.
Students were allowed to shake hands, Cahoon said, and it would probably be OK for athletes at sporting events to congratulate each other with a hug.
But hugging in the hallways was strictly forbidden.
Students caught hugging in the last two days have been sent to the principal’s office for a chat.
Allie Oberfield, a seventh grader, said that she was sent to the principal for a “friendly hug” that was not more than two seconds. But because she had never been sent to the principal before, she was let off with a warning...
After meeting with students Friday, Cahoon modified the policy to allow one-armed hugs and hugs less than two seconds long.
(Link here)
Stop looking at me . . . or I’ll sue!
Employees have been fired from companies for exactly that.
Maybe Barney is in charge of this Nation.
If I get the timeline right, the school enacted a strict policy in response to student concerns. After evaluating the results and meeting with students, the school administrators acknowledged that the policy went too far and on Friday proposed the more relaxed version that allows quick hugs.
This policy was deemed acceptable to the vast majority of the students, but a small group went ahead and protested after school that day anyway.
I also noticed that the school specifically addressed the concerns about timing the hugs:
Students said that the new policy, which will take effect Monday, is acceptable, though concerns arose about who would be timing the hugs and whether students can comfort a friend who is crying.Kathy Bareiss, spokeswoman for the Mesa Unified School District, said that the school will use “good sense” in handling these situations.
“These policies will be enforced strictly for a little while, until the problem is under control,” Bareiss said. After that, the decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis.
“We’re talking about kids taking it to the limits and breaking the rules,” Bareiss said.
In light of all this, I just have one simple question for you: Do you oppose or approve of the policy as it stands right now?
As blogged about, I think they did the wrong thing with the initial policy, but I think the post-protest compromise is a good one. The AzCentral article is very poorly written, but the EV Trib version helps me understand it a lot better.
Remember this?
Ex-First Lady Hillary Keeps No Eye-Contact Rule
Jan. 22, 2001
“When ‘Queen Hillary’ walks down the hall, you’re not supposed to look at her. You’re actually supposed to go into an office if there is one nearby. She doesn’t want staff ‘seeing’ her.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3a6c70fe1918.htm
The schools can give teachers stop-watches. They can't give them common sense.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.