Portland middle school principal bans hugging

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Hugs bloom into a behavioral virus at Portland school

The hugs were out of control at West Sylvan Middle School in the Portland School District so the principal banned them.


PORTLAND — The hugs were out of control at West Sylvan Middle School.

Students could not pass each other in the hallway without a hug, the principal said. The girls were hugging one another all the time. Kids were late to class because of the hugs.



Classes would end, middle-schoolers would eye a classmate at the other end of the hallway, "they'd scream, run down the hallway and jump in each other's arms," Principal Allison Couch said.

It was, Couch said, a virus of hugs. So the principal banned hugs at school in late February.



The campus of nearly 600 seventh- and eighth-graders joined a growing list of schools nationwide that have halted hugs as well as other behaviors deemed detrimental to teaching and learning.

Couch said she was prompted to act in part because of a school-bus incident that drew police. Though she would not describe what happened, she said no students was harmed.

Also, it appeared to her that some students were hugging others who did not want the sign of affection.

In at least one case, hugging was used as a form of mockery — when two eighth-grade girls hugged a seventh-grade boy, she said.

" 'They did that to be mean,' " Couch said the boy told her later. " 'They don't like me. They did that to be mean.' "

Also, parents reported that girls were using hugging as a game to see how fast boys could become aroused, Couch said, adding, "I was seeing evidence of it."

The policy may sound unreasonable to someone outside the school, she said, but if someone filed a lawsuit because of unwanted touching, a bigger news story would have resulted.


The West Sylvan PTA is backing Couch, PTA board member Lee Rumaner said.



But several parents with children in the school in southwest Portland have voiced objections to the hugging ban in blogs and e-mails, he said.

"They have a very strong passion about what they're saying," Rumaner said, "but maybe they don't have the full message she's trying to give."

In Rumaner's view, Couch is doing her job.

"A principal's role is not to be the best friend in school," Rumaner said, adding that his seventh-grade son views the no-hug policy as ridiculous.

West Sylvan has plenty of company nationwide. Among schools that have banned hugging or limited the duration of hugs are those in Oak Park, Ill.; Prattville, Ala.; Mascoutah, Ill.; Mesa, Ariz.; Vienna, Va.; Milford, Conn.; Hillsdale, N.J.; and Fort Worth, Texas. In 2005, Sky View Middle School in Bend, Ore., took action, and so has a school in South Australia.




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  i didn't get that type of treatment in middle school.  
nerd.gif
they showing skin already in middle school.  they gettin' younger, fellow NTers, thats how we like it 
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hmmm... interesting

I could see where it gets carried away or lil $+@*+ turn it into some sexual game...

but idk seems a lil over the top to ban them completely.. oh well thats my .02
 
Gotta watch my lil bro, he's in the 7th grade. They say they have support from Prattville, AL huh? Gotta be Prattville HS, because that's the only HS there.
 
Originally Posted by Noskey

Kids are getting wilder with every generation
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Thats the idea; Thats the plan; do you not see whats happening?
do you not see what is going to happen?
smh.gif
 
While the intentions of some students is probably misguided..what kinda culture we live in where we're banning 12-14 yr olds from hugging each other?  That's out of control.  Just like the dumb +++ school that banned any form of touching. They gonna ban sports next because it could possibly be "violent" or because its a "distraction"?
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My middle school had a strict no touch policy. I remember hugging my first girlfriend at recess and being sent to the dean. To this day, I still think it was a ridiculous rule..
 
Originally Posted by DunkNForce

hmmm... interesting

I could see where it gets carried away or lil $+@*+ turn it into some sexual game...

but idk seems a lil over the top to ban them completely.. oh well thats my .02
I guess that's the point - it's causing problems with discipline and also with kids using it as a weapon so the only solution the principle saw was to ban hugging completely.

I went to a pretty strict private school and at one point the principle tried to instigate a 12" rule - you weren't allowed to walk home closer than 12" to another pupil - he got fed up with all the public displays of affection on the public buses and stuff.

That didn't last long though after the rule was completely ridiculed.
 
Originally Posted by Ziostilon


mad.gif
  i didn't get that type of treatment in middle school.  
nerd.gif
they showing skin already in middle school.  they gettin' younger, fellow NTers, thats how we like it 
wink.gif


Chill
 
Originally Posted by ATLien Seeko

Originally Posted by Ziostilon


mad.gif
  i didn't get that type of treatment in middle school.  
nerd.gif
they showing skin already in middle school.  they gettin' younger, fellow NTers, thats how we like it 
wink.gif


Chill
 
i remember back in like 7th grade i went to go give my girlfriend a hug and we were hugging and this teacher was like, there will be NONE of that here. 

its just a hug, damn, banning hugs? crazyness
 
I get it... I work at a middle school and I've noticed students acting a little more frisky in the halls lately.  It's an interesting age group, to say the least.
 
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