First Grader Suspended for Harassment

[savafan]

You know, I can recall us boys tormenting the girls who wore skirts by flipping their skirts up with sticks just to make them mad when we were in kindergarten and first grade. Had no clue at the time about anything sexual at all.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/08/D8FL3EGO0.html

BROCKTON, Mass.

A first grader was suspended for three days after school officials said he sexually harassed a girl in his class by allegedly putting two fingers inside the girl's waistband while she sat on the floor in front of him.

The boy's mother, Berthena Dorinvil, said she "screamed" about last week's suspension from Downey Elementary School, and added her son doesn't know what sexual harassment is.

"He doesn't know those things," she told The Enterprise of Brockton. "He's only 6 years old."

School officials declined comment to The Enterprise, citing the child's age.

"They would have not suspended the child without doing an investigation," said spokeswoman Cynthia McNally.

Dorinvil said the school principal, Diane Gosselin, called her to pick up her son Jan. 30. She said her son asked the principal if the police were going to come get him.

The principal told Dorinvil the girl complained to the teacher after her son touched the girl's waistband, hitting her skin, in a room full of children.

Dorinvil said her son told her he touched the girl's shirt, not her skin, after the girl touched him.

"He was playing with her," Dorinvil said.

[cincinnati chili]

It might be silly to call it "sexual" harassment, but I have no problem with schools making it abundantly clear to young boys that the insides of a girls' pants are off limits.

It's a harsher punishment than we'd have gotten in the 70's and 80's. But I'm guessing the boy won't make this mistake again, at a later age when such playful mistake could label him a sex offender.

[TeamBoone]

Personally, I think they're making a mountain out of a mole hill. It's not like he unbuttoned her shirt or lifted up her skirt. For Pete's sake, he's a little kid!

Talk to the little boy and tell him why he shouldn't do it, but suspension?

[savafan]

Personally, I think they're making a mountain out of a mole hill. It's not like he unbuttoned her shirt or lifted up her skirt. For Pete's sake, he's a little kid!

Talk to the little boy and tell him why he shouldn't do it, but suspension?

Exactly. When we got caught doing the skirt lifting thing when I was younger, our recess teacher sat us down and talked to us and we stopped doing it. It was real simple.

[Caveat Emperor]

It's a harsher punishment than we'd have gotten in the 70's and 80's. But I'm guessing the boy won't make this mistake again, at a later age when such playful mistake could label him a sex offender.

A child this young would simply lack the comprehension to understand what he's being suspended for. Best they could probably get through to him, at this young an age, is not to ever touch (generally) other people without their permission.

As a stupid aside, the only time I was ever "sent to the principal's office" as a child was when I was a 4th grader and made the comment (and I quote) "Girls are dumber than boys." The class was playing some kind of stupid game in music class and the teacher had put all the boys on one team and all the girls on the other, and I had taken the opportunity to pipe up and talk a little trash. Apparently at the age of 9 I hadn't quite internalized the concepts of Title VII such as "gender-based discrimination" and "hostile work environment." I was given a talking-to about not making fun of girls and how they shouldn't ever be treated differently. Even at that age: in one ear, out the other.

Karma-wise, I'm probably still paying for those comments in my interactions with women.

[dman]

I went to Wehlre High School (and a Catholic middle school as well), one of the things I enjoyed most in elementary and middle school was the fact that the girls wore skirts and it was, well, fun to sit directly across fron the pretty girls in class. I graduated in 1990, so the sexual harassment movement was starting to get it's legs, plus as a high schooler you're in bad shape if you have to do the up-skirt thing to get your kicks. There's no way that I could get away with some of the things that my buddies and I did when we were younger. If what this little boy did got him a suspension, then the stuff we did would have cost us an expulsion (stuff like goosing the girls when they went to sit down on the school bus etc.)

[GAC]

It might be silly to call it "sexual" harassment, but I have no problem with schools making it abundantly clear to young boys that the insides of a girls' pants are off limits.

I agree. Talk to the child with a parent present. Educate. But issuing a suspension to a 1st grader is ridiculous and extreme IMO.

[RFS62]

Man, if I was a kid today, I'd be on death row.

[GAC]

Yep. You'd be up the creek without a tricycle.

[flyer85]

Talk to the little boy and tell him why he shouldn't do it, but suspension?

shows how over sexualized our entire culture has become. Every male/female interaction(even at an age where children know nothing about it) is interpreted sexually. This country stole the innocence of our youth a long time ago, it is very sad.