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Six Year Old Boy Expelled for Sexual Harrassment

Discussion in '2006 Archive' started by carpro, Feb 10, 2006.

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  1. carpro

    carpro Well-Known Member
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    http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/02/09/case_vs_brockton_boy_stuns_officials/

    Case vs. Brockton boy stuns officials
    Educators debate 'harassment' case
    By Tracy Jan and Kathleen Burge, Globe Staff | February 9, 2006

    A 6-year-old Brockton boy's suspension on accusations of sexual harassment startled some school officials in the region yesterday; the officials said they avoid the words ''sexual harassment" when trying to teach young children about appropriate touching.

    School systems, by state law, must have policies barring sexual harassment, but officials from Boston, Arlington, Framingham, East Taunton, and Duxbury said they could not recall an instance in which they had punished a child that age for such an incident.

    In addition, it was excessive for the school system to suspend the child, said a former state Department of Education official, Nan D. Stein, who developed the state's first curriculum for addressing sexual harassment in schools.

    Officials should have addressed the issue in a way easier for 6-year-olds to understand: by telling the boy that rules required him to keep his hands to himself, said Stein, who developed the curriculum in 1979. ''We shouldn't be labeling it sexual harassment," she said. ''They don't understand it."

    Even if the boy had repeatedly touched the girl, it was ''outrageous" for school officials to refer the case to the district attorney's office, Stein said.

    Stein is now a senior research scientist at the Center for Research on Women at Wellesley Centers for Women.

    A spokeswoman at the Plymouth County district attorney's office, Bridget Norton Middleton, said yesterday that no charges will be filed because touching is not a criminal matter. The Brockton first-grader was suspended for three days Jan. 30, after school officials said he had put his hand inside the waistband of a girl's pants and had touched the skin on her back, said his mother, Berthena Dorinvil. But she said her son had told her that the girl had touched him first and that he had responded by touching her over her clothes, not on her skin. Dorinvil said the boy had not been in trouble before.
     
    #1 carpro, Feb 10, 2006
  2. Helen

    Helen <img src =/Helen2.gif>

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    The kids were fooling around on the playground -- a sort of tag game, for Pete's sakes. This is beyond bizarre!
     
    #2 Helen, Feb 10, 2006
  3. Ben W

    Ben W Active Member
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    Maybe the parents should sue the school, they are cleary responsable for the boy learning the behaviour there!
     
    #3 Ben W, Feb 11, 2006
  4. hillclimber

    hillclimber New Member

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    Unbelievable, and yet not. We must be absolutely sure that God is not allowed into these schools.
     
    #4 hillclimber, Feb 11, 2006
  5. hillclimber

    hillclimber New Member

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    If God were allowed back into the school systems, it might create and outbreak of....gasp...Christianity, and the horrible consequences that carries.
     
    #5 hillclimber, Feb 11, 2006
  6. JGrubbs

    JGrubbs New Member

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    "For over one hundred years Americans have been running a gigantic experiment in government schools, trying to find out what a society looks like without God. Now we know."
    --Douglas Wilson
     
    #6 JGrubbs, Feb 11, 2006
  7. Scarlett O.

    Scarlett O. Moderator
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    This is beyond bizarre.

    Hmmmm....he reached his hand inside the little girl's pants....he was suspended for 3 days.

    They, whether rightly or wrongly, called it "sexual harassment" on the suspension form.

    Hmmm.....

    It sure doesn't take much anymore for Christians on the Baptist Board to hop on the old "public school people are all of the devil" bandwagon, now does it?

    I simply see it as a case of giving the boy two days too many of a suspension. And they could have called it "inappropriate touching".

    I surely don't see what this has to do with everybody connected with public school going to hell.
     
    #7 Scarlett O., Feb 11, 2006
  8. Joseph_Botwinick

    Joseph_Botwinick <img src=/532.jpg>Banned

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    I agree with Scarlett.

    BTW,

    A few quick questions:

    1. Are you telling me that if this were a "Christian" school, that this would guarantee that there would not be any stupid administrators who make stupid decisions?

    and

    2. What would this school look like if "God were alllowed back into the school system"?

    Joseph Botwinick
     
    #8 Joseph_Botwinick, Feb 11, 2006
  9. TaterTot

    TaterTot Guest

    Well, I work at a Christian school, and sexual issues are alive and well. Not anywhere near as bad as other places I am familiar with, but we have our problems too. The sinful nature cannot be eradicated 100%.

    That story didnt indicate any sexual touching, in my opinion. He touched her back. Granted, I wouldnt want a child having his hand like that on my daughter, but kids do play doctor sometimes, and all kids are curious. I think they overreacted as well.
     
    #9 TaterTot, Feb 11, 2006
  10. Filmproducer

    Filmproducer Guest

    Agree Joseph and Scarlett. If nothing else the boy did inappropriately touch the girl, whether they were playing or not. It did not merit a three day suspension, and it was not sexual harassment. I'm sorry, but what is the big deal here? The boy deserved some sort of punishment, albeit three days was too harsh, and in my book the sexual harassment claim is a non-issue. Standard discipline forms are used for all grade levels in the public school system, at least here in Florida. Inappropriate touching most likely would fall into the "sexual harassment" category.
     
    #10 Filmproducer, Feb 11, 2006
  11. carpro

    carpro Well-Known Member
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    He wasn't only suspended, his case was referred to the District Attorney, for cryin' out loud!

    School officials must have checked their common sense at the door.

    It's hard to believe people like that are actually paid to educate kids.
     
    #11 carpro, Feb 11, 2006
  12. hillclimber

    hillclimber New Member

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    The point is that the faculty in a Christian School would react in a far more proper way that this example. For instance Christians know that 6 year olds have no idea about sexuality. They may have discovered differences in the sexes and want to learn more, but that certainly doesn't make them harrassers, or perverts. Ridiculous

    Maybe...maybe it required a gentle verbal correction
     
    #12 hillclimber, Feb 11, 2006
  13. Scarlett O.

    Scarlett O. Moderator
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    I'm sure that they have to turn over sexual harassment cases to the DA. What made this an overblown incident is that they "labeled" it sexual harassment in the first place. They should have called it something else.

    In my school district, it is not called sexual harassment until the child understands what that is.

    Teachers and students (of appropriate age) and their parents are required to sign a sexual harassment policy form stating that they understand the difference between "play" and crossing the line, whether it be verbal or physical.

    If you just stop and think about it, the whole reason for having policies like that even pertaining to children and young people is that our children have soooooo much knowlege of inappropriate sexual content from just the music and the television programs that they watch.

    Just stop and think. How many commercials does your child see everyday that has explicit sexual content in it?

    How much inappropriate and veiled sexual content is there in children's movies? I can tell you. Alot more than you might think.

    Children repeat "funny" things that they hear from the media. Much of it is inappropriate. Some children act out "funny" things that they see.

    It's not funny.

    A sexual harassment policy is a necessary thing, even in schools be they public or private. I am teaching now in a very good Christian school and yet I could tell you some things that I have seen in these young people, these good young people, that would make you gasp.

    But I won't. I don't like bickering over whose children are "better". I can't stand it really.

    Inappropriate touching should be tempered. Even in our schools. In this case it should have just been tempered with some common sense.

    But because the school officials overreacted does not make them nor public school people "en masse" evil, stupid, or a failed "social experiment".
     
    #13 Scarlett O., Feb 11, 2006
  14. Joseph_Botwinick

    Joseph_Botwinick <img src=/532.jpg>Banned

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    Hillclimber,

    Do they have this knowledge because they are Christians? Where in the Bible did they learn this? Are you saying that non-Christians don't know this because they are not Christians? Are you even implying that this principal is not a Christian? How did you come upon this knowledge? Do you know his / her heart?

    Joseph Botwinick
     
    #14 Joseph_Botwinick, Feb 11, 2006
  15. Joseph_Botwinick

    Joseph_Botwinick <img src=/532.jpg>Banned

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    I would just like to add here that it is at home where these children learned a lot of these evil things, not at school. But, attacking the parents as evil, and talking about putting God back into the homes is just not as popular of a thing to do for many Christians as it is to attack the evil public schools and the teachers.

    Joseph Botwinick
     
    #15 Joseph_Botwinick, Feb 11, 2006
  16. carpro

    carpro Well-Known Member
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    Well said. [​IMG]
     
    #16 carpro, Feb 11, 2006
  17. hillclimber

    hillclimber New Member

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    Well actually Joseph, I was assuming Christians weren't as corrupted by political correctness, but that may not be a valid assumption.
     
    #17 hillclimber, Feb 11, 2006
  18. Helen

    Helen <img src =/Helen2.gif>

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    First, Joseph, kids learn from both places. Not all the blame should be leveled at the home and not all at the school. Our society is soaked in sexuality and sexual implications.

    Second, the school officials have evidently apologized to the family and the boy has been transferred to another school.

    Personally, I don't think it is sexual harassment or sexual anything at that age when kids bump into each other all the time and push and shove and grab. Yes, we can teach them to keep their hands to themselves, but at that age it is more for safety and 'getting along' reasons rather than 'sexual' reasons.
     
    #18 Helen, Feb 11, 2006
  19. Joseph_Botwinick

    Joseph_Botwinick <img src=/532.jpg>Banned

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    Helen,

    One of the very times I can actually say I agree with everything you said. I was merely responding to the mindless mantra of those who blame every problem with schools on "kicking God out of the school."

    Joseph Botwinick
     
    #19 Joseph_Botwinick, Feb 11, 2006
  20. hillclimber

    hillclimber New Member

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    Well I was comparing their reaction to mine. Maybe you are right and Christians also would demand this ridiculous outcome. I'm out of touch with modern day crime and punishment.
     
    #20 hillclimber, Feb 11, 2006
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