Thug or Hug?

[RICHARD]

Girl Gets Detention For Hugging
Ban On Lingering Hugs Provokes Dispute At Oregon Middle School

BEND, Ore., May 16, 2005

(AP) A 14-year-old girl received detention over a lingering hug she gave her boyfriend at school, infuriating her mother and putting school officials on the defensive.

School officials said they had warned Cazz Altomare that lingering hugging was unacceptable, but she continued to disobey the rule when she received the detention earlier this year.

Rules at Sky View Middle School in Bend permit "quick hello and goodbye hugs," but administrators said some students have been taking advantage of it.

"It's not like we are the hug Nazis," Laurie Gould, spokeswoman for the Bend-La Pine School District, said Monday. "Kids hug, they hug hello and they hug goodbye, but if you take it farther, you make people uncomfortable."

Cazz got detention after giving her boyfriend a protracted hug in the hallway at Sky View Middle School in Bend.

Her mother, Leslee Swanson, was infuriated by the punishment. When she went to pick her daughter up from detention, she gave her a good, hard hug.

"I'm trying to understand what's wrong with a hug," Swanson, 42, said in a story Sunday in The Bulletin of Bend. People should not "blindly accept these fundamental rights being taken away from them," she said.

Gould said "usually kids don't get detention just for hugging."

All middle schools in the Bend-La Pine district restrict hugging to some degree, as well as hand-holding and some other forms of physical affection.

"Really, all we're trying to do is create an environment that's focused on learning, and learning proper manners is part of that," said Dave Haack, the principal of Cascade Middle School, also in Bend.

Students only end up with detention after repeated warnings earlier this year, he said.

Outside Pilot Butte Middle School on a recent lunch break, two seventh-grade girls said they disagreed with the policies.

"I think we should be able to hold hands or hug at least," said Annie Wilson, 12. "Because it's not doing anything bad."

©MMV The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Everyone knows that a hug can lead to BAD things!

Is it too late to get off the planet?

[crow_noir]

Yeash!

With kids bringing guns and knives to schools these days you think they'd have more to worry about than two teens hugging.

I could see if the two were having a grope fest that this could be an issue... but jeeze... prolonged hugging?! WTF.

[jackie]

I find it amazing that a 14 year old girl getting detention makes the news these days. Don't they have anything better to report these days?

[Hellow]

I find it amazing that a 14 year old girl getting detention makes the news these days. Don't they have anything better to report these days?

I guess not. Now thats stupid, "prolonged hugging". Your not doing anything wrong, people do it all the time. The school shouldnt get involved in these sorts of things.

[moosmom]

If only EVERYONE were that way.

[momoffuzzyfaces]

Any meatloaf left? A meatloaf sandwich would really hit the spot right now. And a cherry limeade!!!

[Marigold2]

Where were their hands during this hugging? Maybe that's part of the problem. You can give someone a hug and then their are those other hugs where the hands are roaming and exploring.

[Miss Z]

Oddly, I think the school was right to act. There IS a difference between a hug as a greeting and something more personal. School is most certainly not the place for the latter and gives the school a very bad image. I mean, if you were a passer-by and saw the pupils coupled up doing god knows what outside, wouldn't exactly make you want to send your own kids there.

[-Pickle-]

I guess not. Now thats retarded, "prolonged hugging". Your not doing anything wrong, people do it all the time. The school shouldnt get involved in these sorts of things.

REGGIE!
"Now thats retarded"
you disgust me! that word is HIGHLY offensive to some people!

Apologies to ellie for having to see this,
and zara, i agree with you.

[Whisk_Luva]

Now thats retarded

I would appreciate it if you refrain from using this word in that context.

Apoligies to ellie for having to see this

Thank you

[Hellow]

Sorry ellie i didnt know you had a mentally handicapped sister and i changed my post.

[Marigold2]

Ellie's sister is many things, sweet, funny, beautiful, fun loving and wise in ways we do not understand.

[IRescue452]

Let's send them mixed messages: you can't shoot people, but you can't hug people either. Soon schools are going to have each student in solitary confinement for 8 hours, with orange jumpsuits and numbers. They can't shoot each other, hug each other, make any friends; which we all know leads to leaving some people out of their group of friends, which would be horribly detrimental to the other students. I give my guy friends prolonged hugs all the time.

[catnapper]

Apparently none of you have been in a middle school lately. Hubby teaches at one and I often go to see him during the day... and I've seen those hugs in the hallway. Its uncomfortable to witness to say the least.

There is a parental hug, a friendly hug, and then there is a HUG. A middle school kid who knows they can't kiss in the hallways will make the most of a hug and make you feel dirty for simply glancing in their direction. I've seen those hugs and see nothing wrong with the school's reaction to it.

[jennielynn1970]

Gotta say I agree with Zara and Kim. I teach in a middle school, and the hugs that I witness have nothing to do with saying "hello". More like "Hey baby... you wanna come back to my place later?"

School is for learning. You can be social and hug all you want outside of school. While I don't think it's horrible to do in school, it just gets carried away, and then you get making out in the hallways and kids cutting classes or being late for class. It's not keeping focused on what they are in school for. Education.