Soccer Mom: Unplugged

An 8 year old was suspended from second grade for sexually harrassing a female classmate.  Seems during a game of tag, jr. may have grabbed the little gal by her hind end and that act combined with the fact that he had sent her a few love notes in class got him sent home for a day.

Priceless quotes from the Morning Journal report:

''It's not a disciplinary action,'' Schnurr said yesterday, adding the allegation will not be placed in the student's permanent record. ''We don't want to put something in the permanent record of a youngster who may not understand what they did wrong.

(oooh the dreaded permanent record!  This kid could give his mother forty whacks and his father forty-one and it'd still be expunged at 18 - what the heck is a permanent record, anyway?!?)

''Apparently, they had to treat it as sexual harassment,'' Barth said, adding the girl has been friends with her son for a long time. ''And then he was given a day off of school because of passing notes that say ÔI love you.'''

Johnson said the incident was harmless and referring to it as sexual harassment is what was ''inappropriate.'''

''Little kids are going to do stupid things like that,'' he said of his son passing love letters.

(Passing love letters is "stupid".  How about "passing love letters is a normal part of development" and though eight might seem kind of young, if you've watched an episode of Jimmy Neutron, you know, that even cartoons are dealing in themes that are too mature for their average viewership. 

Another thought: If I were the second grade teacher, I'd be glad they were writing!  I'd say,  "Hey!  you want to write?  Give me 20 sentences about why Suzie Q is such a hottie and make sure you use this week's spelling words!")

The school system Dean speaks:

''It's our job to teach students at a young age that inappropriate behavior is unacceptable,'' Schnurr said. ''The student did something wrong, admitted he did something wrong and received the proper discipline.''

He added it is unfortunate that this discipline is not emphasized at the student's home.

(Huh?  The kid didn't steal a car and drive to Vegas.  He passed a love note and then may have grabbed the girl's butt during a game of tag.  To excoriate the parents as if jr. wasn't getting home training is ridiculous.  What parent sits down with their 8 year old to explain 'sexual harrassment'?  For grabbing Juliet's bottom, Romeo deserves a talking to and some form of punishment simply to deter future lapses, but punishment for writing love notes is absurd.  On Feb 14th the teacher probably passed out heart shaped red construction paper and taught them to write I love you and now it's a crime?)

The overreacting parents are now considering litigation against the overreacting school system that is assuming something inappropriate happened in the gym simply because a few weeks prior Jr. wrote "I love you" on a sheet of wide rule and passed it to the pig-tailed blonde in the front row.  Sounds like everyone is overreacting.  

Advice to the parents:  Don't sue.  Take the high road and teach your kids that stupid people often make it into positions of power but that isn't reason to pursue the contemporary fix-all approach of taking people to court.  Keep your kids in this school.  Go to every PTA. Stay involved.  Report every infraction - if the school board doesn't listen, the media will.

Advice to the principal and school board:  Crack open a book on human development and then sit down with one of my favorite nursery ryhmes to rethink the stupid position you've taken.  Here's a copy.  It's on me.

Georgie Porgie pudding pie

kissed the girls and made them cry.

When the boys came out to play

Georgie Porgie ran away.