2008 Woodie Awards
Kindergarten cop-a-feel
Tracy Johnson, Opinion Editor
Issue date: 2/22/06 Section: Opinion
Think back to when you were six years old.
You were probably running around in the tanbark after trying to learn how to read for an hour, avoiding the devastating epidemic of "cooties" that was spreading by the monkey bars, all while getting cramps or cotton mouth because you ate too much paste.
Back then, did you know what sexual harassment was? Did you even know what "sexual" meant, let alone "harassment"?
I'm guessing that just like a certain six-year-old boy, you have no freakin' idea.
In Brockton, Mass., a six-year-old boy was suspended from school for three days accused of sexually harassing a fellow student. He was punished for something that he can't even spell, or pronounce, for that matter.
So what did this little boy do? School officials said that he put his fingers in a female student's waistband. He said he only did it after the girl touched him first. Man, isn't that how it always starts? Can I get an instant replay?
Brockton schools define sexual harassment among students, in part, as "uninvited physical contact such as touching, hugging, patting or pinching."
Sorry sister, but you touched him first. That's 100 percent open grounds for him to touch you back.
Experts say it's a rare occasion when kids that young can truly sexually harass each other.
"The connotation is you're getting some kind of sexual gratification, or wanting sexual gratification, or are putting pressure on for some kind of sexual gratification, when a six-year-old doesn't have that capacity," said E. Christopher Murray, a civil rights attorney who has handled school discipline cases.
The boy's mother, Berthena Dorinvil, thinks the suspension from Downey Elementary is outrageous. She can't explain to her son what he's done because he's too young to understand. Of course he can't understand, he can't even write his own name.
To put an end to this situation, the school and the mother decided that I would be best if the child was transferred to another school.
You were probably running around in the tanbark after trying to learn how to read for an hour, avoiding the devastating epidemic of "cooties" that was spreading by the monkey bars, all while getting cramps or cotton mouth because you ate too much paste.
Back then, did you know what sexual harassment was? Did you even know what "sexual" meant, let alone "harassment"?
I'm guessing that just like a certain six-year-old boy, you have no freakin' idea.
In Brockton, Mass., a six-year-old boy was suspended from school for three days accused of sexually harassing a fellow student. He was punished for something that he can't even spell, or pronounce, for that matter.
So what did this little boy do? School officials said that he put his fingers in a female student's waistband. He said he only did it after the girl touched him first. Man, isn't that how it always starts? Can I get an instant replay?
Brockton schools define sexual harassment among students, in part, as "uninvited physical contact such as touching, hugging, patting or pinching."
Sorry sister, but you touched him first. That's 100 percent open grounds for him to touch you back.
Experts say it's a rare occasion when kids that young can truly sexually harass each other.
"The connotation is you're getting some kind of sexual gratification, or wanting sexual gratification, or are putting pressure on for some kind of sexual gratification, when a six-year-old doesn't have that capacity," said E. Christopher Murray, a civil rights attorney who has handled school discipline cases.
The boy's mother, Berthena Dorinvil, thinks the suspension from Downey Elementary is outrageous. She can't explain to her son what he's done because he's too young to understand. Of course he can't understand, he can't even write his own name.
To put an end to this situation, the school and the mother decided that I would be best if the child was transferred to another school.