A six-year-old was suspended from a school in the US state of Colorado, after kissing a girl on her hand after officials reportedly said the smooch was sexual harassment.
Hunter Yelton reportedly had a crush on a female classmate at his Canon City school.
The Grade 1 kid planted a smooch on her hand as a way to show his affection. A smooth move, no doubt.
Unfortunately for Hunter, the school didn’t agree. The kiss was seen as a kind of harassment. Hunter was sent to the principal’s office and suspended.
Hunter’s mother Jenny Saunders said that the subject of Hunter’s affection was OK with the kiss. Other kids told the music teacher about the sneaky smooch.
“That was the day I had the meeting with the principal, where she first said ‘sexual harassment’. This is taking it to an extreme that doesn’t need to be met with a six-year-old. Now my son is asking questions … “What is sex mummy?”
That should not ever be said, sex. Not in a sentence with a six-year-old.”
Both mother and son admitted that Hunter isn’t exactly an easy kid to have in class. He’s been suspended before for “rough-housing” and for kissing the same first-grader on her cheek.
The media reports that the school district is sticking to its stance. The superintendent told the local TV station that Hunter’s kiss fits the district’s definition of sexual harassment.
His mother isn’t happy that her six-year-old now has that mark on his record. Understandably.
“How can you do this? How can you say this about my child?” she said. “Remove sexual harassment, remove it from his record. I’m going to stand up and fight for him because that’s not the case, that’s not what happened at all.”
The United States is already the most litigious nation on the planet. It is also the most painfully politically-correct. So little Hunter is a handful? Fine. So use your skills as teachers to correct his behaviour, enlisting his mother’s support for necessary action.
Bizarre. Ridiculous. Insanity. Right up there with punishing a Grade A teen student for collecting her drunk friend from a party at which alcohol was served (against school rules) instead of letting her drive home drunk, as we recently reported.
We would give up, were it not necessary to harness public opinion to turn this tide back.
Well, This Is What I Think 