Florida Student Suspended for Hugging


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PALM BAY, FL ? A 14-year-old Florida student who hugged his friend was suspended as a result of his middle school's zero-tolerance no-hugging policy, myFOXorlando.com reported.

Nick Martinez said he gave a quick hug to his best friend, a female student, between classes.

The public display of affection was spotted by the principal of Palm Bay's Southwest Middle School, 74 miles southeast of Orlando. While the principal said he believed the hug was innocent, he brought the two students to the school's dean, who penalized them with in-school suspensions.

According to the Southwest Middle School's student handbook, students can receive a one-day out-of-school suspension for kissing, while students caught hugging or hand-holding are penalized with a dean's detention or suspension.

School administrators said a committee of parents approved the "no hugging" policy years ago, and there aren't plans to change it any time soon.

The school's strict policy stipulates that there is no difference between an unwanted hug, or sexual harassment, and a hug between friends.

Christine Davis, spokesman for Brevard County School said the school's "focus is on learning; therefore, we cannot discriminate or make an opinion on what is an appropriate hug, what's not an appropriate hug," said Davis. "What you may think is appropriate, another person may view as inappropriate."

"A lot of friends are hugging. I just happened to be the one caught doing it," Nick said. "Honestly, I didn't know because I didn't think hugging was a bad thing. I didn't know you could get suspended for it."

Nick's mother, Nancy Crecente, said she plans to ask the school board to change the policy.

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Honestly i wish there were more strict policies (at least in the school I attended) there were always kids making out in the halls (and worse after school)

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I am and live in a very Puerto Rican town, if they ever implemented a retarded rule like this, 99% of the High Schoolers would be in detention after the first day, hugging is a huge part of our culture and can't be just turned off because some ass thinks it's inappropriate.

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We all know hugging leads to rape ... pfft. :rolleyes:

Hugging leads to rape...which leads to sufffferiiiinggg [/yoda]

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How DARE the kid hug another kid. I mean, my God, what has the world come to when a child shows affection to another child? Goodness! I should have been thrown out of school for hugging a girl when her grandmother died and she was crying in the corner by herself. But whew, she may not have wanted that hug. I can't believe it took this long for someone to tell me. I should see if I can track her down and call her and apologize immediately.

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It's illegal to be human, apparently. O_o

Humans are a lot of things, hunters, for example, yet it is illegal to hunt... wait for it... humans.

Despite this silly fact, it?s not illegal, it?s simply against the school?s rules, the same rules the parents voted FOR.

Retarded as it may be, they WANTED it, so there you go, have fun ;)

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Humans are a lot of things, hunters, for example, yet it is illegal to hunt... wait for it... humans.

Despite this silly fact, it?s not illegal, it?s simply against the school?s rules, the same rules the parents voted FOR.

Retarded as it may be, they WANTED it, so there you go, have fun ;)

Yes, those parents who joined the PTA because they feel the need to protect their children from reality. We have parents who are so paranoid about their kids having sex that it leads to nonsense like this.

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it?s not illegal, it?s simply against the school?s rules, the same rules the parents voted FOR.

Retarded as it may be, they WANTED it, so there you go, have fun ;)

You can't always do what the average Joe wants.

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I would probably agree on a rule where kids cannot french kiss each other at school, you know we've seen a lot of those back in the days in high school ..

But cannot hug ?? Wtf, If I was there, this principal would wish he never knew me.

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It is the fate of the young people to be foolish, sometimes in order to learn from the mistakes, sometimes to recognize their mistakes when they repeat them.

Teaching of responsibility is being shadowed by senseless regulations yet again.

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A hugging ban wouldn't fly in our area - it's a common greeting due to the many cultures in our corner of the melting pot & you see people do it all the time. If this happened the next school board meeting would be packed.

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In-school suspension where they're isolated in individual cubicles doing their assignments is far, far preferable to home suspension where they end up having Suspension Parties, wandering the streets and/or playing their game systems.

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