Jump to content

Student in Georgia Suspended for a year for hugging a teacher


Go Skins

Recommended Posts

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/17/living/parents-student-suspended-sexual-harassment-hugging-teacher/

 

To Sam McNair, a 17-year-old high school senior in Duluth, Georgia, it was an innocent hug.

 

"You never know what someone's going through," McNair told CNN affiliate WGCL in Atlanta. "A hug might help."

 

It didn't in this case because after McNair hugged a teacher, he ended up with a year-long suspension from Duluth High School, putting his college plans in jeopardy.

 

"He's a senior; he plays football. He was getting ready for lacrosse season, and you are stripping him of the opportunity to even get a full scholarship for athletics for college," April McNair, Sam's mother, told WGCL.

 

The elder McNair, who says she and her son call themselves huggers, said she was dumbfounded to learn of her son's suspension after hugging a teacher.

 

Surveillance video captures the hug in question, showing Sam placing his arms around the teacher and giving her a hug. The teacher then pushes him away.

 

According to a discipline report obtained by WGCL, the teacher said Sam's lips and cheeks touched her neck and that she had warned Sam about hugging in the past.

 

Asked if he kissed the teacher, Sam told the television reporter he did not. He said he has hugged teachers many times before, including this teacher, and has never been warned.

 

In a statement, Sloan Roach, a spokesperson for the Gwinnett County Public Schools, told CNN, "Hearing officers consider witness testimony, a review of the known facts, and a student's past disciplinary history -- including long-term suspensions that result in alternative school placement -- when determining consequences."

 

"If a parent has concerns about the outcome of a panel, he or she is entitled to appeal the decision to the Gwinnett County Board of Education," Roach added.

 

 

Follow up article:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/18/us/georgia-hugging-student-suspended/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

 

he family of a Georgia student suspended for the rest of the school year for hugging a teacher has filed an appeal with the school board, the teen's mother told CNN on Wednesday night.

 

Sam McNair, a 17-year-old high school senior in Duluth, Georgia, was suspended December 3 for sexual harassment.

Surveillance video captured the hug in question, showing Sam placing his arms around the teacher and giving her a hug. The teacher then pushes him away.

 

McNair told "Piers Morgan Live" that he had hugged that teacher at Duluth High School before.

 

"Four or five times," he said. "I hug all my teachers. It's to show appreciation for what they do for me."

 

He denied that the teacher had told him before to not hug her again. He also said that his lips and cheeks definitely didn't touched the teacher's neck, as is alleged in a discipline report obtained by CNN affiliate WGCL.

 

In a statement earlier this week, Sloan Roach, a spokesperson for the Gwinnett County Public Schools, told CNN, "Hearing officers consider witness testimony, a review of the known facts, and a student's past disciplinary history -- including long-term suspensions that result in alternative school placement -- when determining consequences."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know....when I see stories of a 1st grader getting suspended for kissing his girlfriend's hand, or a 3rd grader getting suspended for saying Merry Christmas, it makes my blood boil. This though, not so sure. A 17 year old boy doesn't need to be hugging on his teachers. I think a year long suspension is quite excessive but some sort of suspension wouldn't bother me too much.

MULLY

My students hug on me though. Doesn't bother me at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know....when I see stories of a 1st grader getting suspended for kissing his girlfriend's hand, or a 3rd grader getting suspended for saying Merry Christmas, it makes my blood boil. This though, not so sure. A 17 year old boy doesn't need to be hugging on his teachers. I think a year long suspension is quite excessive but some sort of suspension wouldn't bother me too much.
MULLY
My students hug on me though. Doesn't bother me at all.


Agreed. On all counts. The punishment sure does seem to outweigh the crime.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Where does the school system get off going for a year suspension?  It's his senior year anyway, he wouldn't be serving the time. 

 

The issue is, was he warned or not.   If so, and he continued to do this, then he should be suspended, but not for a year.  If the teacher(s) had an issue, they could have said something to the principal and this would be dealt with. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Where does the school system get off going for a year suspension?  It's his senior year anyway, he wouldn't be serving the time. 

 

The issue is, was he warned or not.   If so, and he continued to do this, then he should be suspended, but not for a year.  If the teacher(s) had an issue, they could have said something to the principal and this would be dealt with. 

 

From what I read. the teacher claims to have warned him before but nothing is in writing.

 

Also, he has been suspended a few times before but I haven't seen what he was suspended for previously.They claim to have taken his prior history into account when deciding on a 1 year suspension. Perhaps they felt the message wasn't getting through.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Where does the school system get off going for a year suspension?  It's his senior year anyway, he wouldn't be serving the time. 

 

The issue is, was he warned or not.   If so, and he continued to do this, then he should be suspended, but not for a year.  If the teacher(s) had an issue, they could have said something to the principal and this would be dealt with. 

 

I would bet the ranch and livestock that even though being suspended from school, he is being sent to an alternative school or program or even receiving some sort of home instruction and will still earn his credits and graduate with his class.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We don't now the circumstances. What kind of kid is he? Is he a kid who always tries to get away with something he is not supposed to be doing? Rule breaker? Rule bender? So many variables we don't know. My guess... total shit head kid who kept bending the rules and doing things his way because he could get away with it. They finally had enough and slammed him when they could.

 

I could be wrong. I could see it happening though. Just as likely as the perfect student who likes to hug giving a receptive teacher his thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We don't now the circumstances. What kind of kid is he? Is he a kid who always tries to get away with something he is not supposed to be doing? Rule breaker? Rule bender? So many variables we don't know. My guess... total shit head kid who kept bending the rules and doing things his way because he could get away with it. They finally had enough and slammed him when they could.
 
I could be wrong. I could see it happening though. Just as likely as the perfect student who likes to hug giving a receptive teacher his thanks.

Those damn kids and their hugs! I get what you're saying, kind of, but I find it hard to believe that a "hugger" is a "shit head kid", but then again he does play lacrosse.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a perfect example of the "no win" situation that authorities are in.

 

If you document every minor transgression, you potentially harm or limit innocent folks; if you don't, then when a history of behavior indicates a real problem, you can't back up your allegations.  Is this kid a future rapist, or future social worker (or both)?

 

We don't know right now.  But based upon what he's said (basically I like to hug and I just keep doing it and don't understand the issue), and what the teacher stated (I've asked him to stop, and instead he's escalating it by brushing his face/lips on my neck), there IS an issue.  Clearly the kid does not respect other peoples' personal space or authority to defy his wish for physical contact.  He could just as easily stand in front of the teacher, open his arms to OFFER a hug, and await some indication of whether that contact is acceptable to the individual.  But THAT's the point; he doesn't take that step of ASKING or seeking permission.  He imposes his will.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Going out on a limb and waiting for the negative reps.

Go back and read the article again with reference to the boy's behavior and actions

in school.  He had already been suspended and given the option of going to an off campus

alternative school to remove him from the situation and continue his education.

 

She told him not to touch her.

He supposedly not only hugged her but kissed her neck.'

 

The article/media states I would bet with exaggeration or misleadingly erroneously at best

that he was expelled for hugging her.

Doubtful because it does not work that way,,, due process and all of that.

 

Bet the ranch is expulsion papers say "Repeated Violations" and since he had been assigned to

an off campus alternative school before, this was done again.

He will still get his diploma and graduate even if "expelled" assuming he meets all of the other

school and state requirements which he can get through the alternative school.

 

That's the way it works.

Boy gets his diploma.

School reports to the state via percentage of grads and drop out rates

(school funding is partially based on this) do not show him as a non grad.

 

BTW... he can also apply and go to college and play football if his grades

are high enough for academic eligibility just like everyone else.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...