LORAIN -- Lorain school officials this week executed an ''emergency removal'' of an 8-year-old boy who they say sexually harassed a girl in gym class.
The boy's mother, Tammy Barth, said yesterday her son was playing in gym on Tuesday when a girl student said he and two other boys may have grabbed her buttocks.
He was then questioned in an informal hearing by school officials and he admitted he had been passing love notes to the same girl.
The second-grader then asked to sign a notice of emergency removal form for sexual harassment without a parent present, Barth said. The boy printed his first name on the portion of the form asking for his signature.
School documents provided by Barth and the boy's father, Frank Johnson, did not give specifics on the incident but showed that the second-grader was removed from school on Tuesday for ''sexual harassment during gym.'' It also states the student ''admits to writing notes saying "I love you" and giving them to a student.''
''It's an embarrassment to me and it's an embarrassment to him because he doesn't understand what's going on,'' Barth said.
A second grade asked to sign a "notice of emergency removal...for sexual harassment" form? Why do I find that hard to believe?
My daughter is five. She has a classmate at her preschool who tells her he loves her all the time. Sometimes this boy chases her around the playground and gives her smooches on the cheek. Am I worried about this? Not really. I've alerted the teacher to it just so she can keep an eye on things and make sure nothing more serious happens, but at the end of the day it is just kids being kids.
Trying to kiss little girls is not an unusual activity for five-year-olds and I can't imagine that grabbing little girl's butts is all that unusual for eight-year-olds. Should he be grabbing butts? No, that is inappropriate. But should the school's reaction be to remove him from the classroom and charge him with sexual harassment? Of course not. That is ludicrous.
At worse this kid should have gotten a warning from the teacher. At most maybe a trip to the principle's office for a stern talking-to and some detention. That is the common sense thing to do. Unfortunately, I'm afraid "common sense" is a trait all too often lacking in our school teachers and administrators.
(via reader robert108)