The Coffeespy

I have three kids, the oldest is a girl aged 9.  When she was in second grade, a boy in her class threatened to stab her with a pencil, and even made mock stabbing motions at her.  Her mother went to the school and spoke with the teacher who said she was helpless to remove the boy from class but had spoken to the boy’s parents.  So she went to the principal and was told it wouldn’t do the boy any good to pull him out of school.  Frustrated, she called me and let me know what was going on.

I called the principal and… was stonewalled just the same.  Labeling the boy… blah blah…  hasn’t attacked ‘really’… yadda yadda… more harm than good… tappity tap tap.  A bunch of PC crap that I knew to be crap because I’ve studied labeling theory and public administration myself.  It was simply spineless, incompetent administrators.  So my daughter and older son (age 8 now) have been home schooled by my wife (who is also a professional teacher, different district) since then.  They ALWAYS test higher on state standard testing and were, frankly, bored by the curriculum when they returned to public school for a year.

This brings us to a story from the Herald-Mail where a 5-year-old has been accused of sexual harassment for pinching a girl’s butt:

HAGERSTOWN - A kindergarten student was accused earlier this month of sexually harassing a classmate at Lincolnshire Elementary School, an accusation that will remain on his record until he moves to middle school.

Washington County Public Schools spokeswoman Carol Mowen said the definition of sexual harassment used by the school system is, “unwelcome sexual advances, request for sexual favors and/or other inappropriate verbal, written or physical conduct of a sexual nature directed toward others.”

Mowen said that definition comes from the Maryland State Department of Education.

According to a school document provided by the boy’s father, the 5-year-old pinched a girl’s buttocks on Dec. 8 in a hallway at the school south of Hagerstown.

Note that the spokeswoman defends the school’s position by reading a definition.  However, the definition includes the word ’sexual’ as an adjective throughout indicating that the act has to be sexually motivated.  Since the story doesn’t include the 5-year-old saying, “Hey doll, nice can,” or anything of the sort, who is actually ascribing the sexual motivation?

Well, if the 5-year-old didn’t know it before, he now knows that the buttocks are strictly a sexual area of the body.  Who has taught him this?  They school.  The school has sexualized a young girls rear-end.  Way to go.  You want to talk about labeling?

The incident will be included in the boy’s file while he remains at Lincolnshire, but Mowen said those files do not follow students when they move on to middle school.

Oh, excellent.  I wonder if he’ll have to inform his neighbors in new classes that he’s a registered butt-pincher.  And will he be barred from certain duties like hall monitor?

Want to be depressed over the dimbulbs running your childrens’ schools in Maryland:

During the 2005-06 school year, 28 kindergarten students in Maryland were suspended for sex offenses, including sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexual activity, according to state data. Fifteen of those suspensions were for sexual harassment.

Lastly, my nomination for non-thinker of the week goes to Washington County Public Schools spokeswoman Carol Mowen:

“It’s important to understand a child may not realize that what he or she is doing may be considered sexual harassment, but if it fits under the definition, then it is, under the state’s guidelines,” Mowen said. “If someone has been told this person does not want this type of touching, it doesn’t matter if it’s at work or at school, that’s sexual harassment.”

Ever hear the saying, “anything a person says before ‘but’ is a lie?”  If it is important to understand that a child may not realize what he or she is doing could be considered sexual harassment… then why are we reading news stories that get passed around the office email system with subjects like “idiots run the schools” or “most ridiculous news item so far this year.”  Do you know how much this drains the public’s faith in public schools, Washington County?

The Moderate Voice covers it in his pithy way.

Maggie’s Farm, a blog I found on Technorati looking this up, is probably going to get some reading from me today.  Short, funny, and I like the Christmas tree lights up top.