Fairfax County middle school student Hal Beaulieu hopped up from his lunch table one day a few months ago, sat next to his girlfriend and slipped his arm around her shoulder. That landed him a trip to the school office.

 

Among his crimes: hugging.

 

All touching -- not only fighting or inappropriate touching -- is against the rules at Kilmer Middle School in Vienna. Hand-holding, handshakes and high-fives? Banned. The rule has been conveyed to students this way: "NO PHYSICAL CONTACT!!!!!"

 

School officials say the rule helps keep crowded hallways and lunchrooms safe and orderly, and ensures that all students are comfortable. But Hal, 13, and his parents think the school's hands-off approach goes too far, and they are lobbying for a change.

 

"I think hugging is a good thing," said Hal, a seventh-grader, a few days before the end of the school year. "I put my arm around her. It was like for 15 seconds. I didn't think it would be a big deal."

 

A Fairfax schools spokesman said there is no countywide ban like the one at Kilmer, but many middle schools and some elementary schools have similar "keep your hands to yourself" rules. Officials in Arlington, Loudoun and Prince George's counties said schools in those systems prohibit inappropriate touching and disruptive behavior but don't forbid all contact.

 

Deborah Hernandez, Kilmer's principal, said the rule makes sense in a school that was built for 850 students but houses 1,100. She said that students should have their personal space protected and that many lack the maturity to understand what is acceptable or welcome.

 

"You get into shades of gray," Hernandez said. "The kids say, 'If he can high-five, then I can do this.' "

 

She has seen a poke escalate into a fight and a handshake that is a gang sign. Some students -- and these are friends -- play "bloody knuckles," which involves slamming their knuckles together as hard as they can. Counselors have heard from girls who are uncomfortable hugging boys but embarrassed to tell anyone. And in a culturally diverse school, officials say, families might have different views of what is appropriate.

 

It isn't as if hug police patrol the Kilmer hallways, Hernandez said. Usually an askance look from a teacher or a reminder to move along is enough to stop girls who are holding hands and giggling in a huddle or a boy who pats a buddy on the back. Students won't get busted if they high-five in class after answering a difficult math problem.

 

Typically, she said, only repeat offenders or those breaking other rules are reprimanded. "You have to have an absolute rule with students, and wiggle room and good judgment on behalf of the staff," Hernandez said.

 

Hal's parents, Donna and Henri, say that they think Kilmer is a good school and that their son is thriving there. He earns A's and B's and, before this incident, hadn't gotten in any trouble. Still, they say they encourage hugging at home and have taught him to shake hands when he meets someone. They agree that teenagers need to have clear limits but don't want their son to get the message that physical contact is bad.

 

"How do kids learn what's right and what's wrong?" Henri Beaulieu asked. "They are all smart kids, and they can draw lines. If they cross them, they can get in trouble. But I don't think it would happen too often." Beaulieu has written a letter to the county School Board asking it to review the rule.

 

Hal's troubles began one day in March when he got up from his assigned cafeteria table and went to a nearby table where his then-girlfriend was sitting. He admits he broke one rule -- getting up from his assigned table without permission -- and he accepts a reprimand for that. "The table thing, I'm guilty," he said.

 

A school security officer spotted the hug and sent Hal to the office, where he was cited for two infractions. He was warned that a third misstep could lead to in-school suspension or detention.

 

School officials said that the girl didn't complain and that they have no reason to believe the hug was unwelcome.

 

Hal said that he and his classmates understand when and how it is appropriate to hug or pat someone on the back in school and that most teenagers respect boundaries set by their peers. Today, his seventh-grade year ends as school lets out for the summer. Next fall, he hopes Kilmer officials reconsider the rule.

 

"I think you should be able to shake hands, high-five and maybe a quick hug," he said. "Making out goes too far."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1701179_pf.html

Thoughts?

school board there = pycho

With our I Pods, and our You Tubes, and our cell phones, and our online forums, our parents not staying home with their children, our children filling the void with sex and drugs, our children growing up into adults and worsening the trend, we are becoming so distant from our fellow man and woman, events like this should not surprise us.

:blink:

With our I Pods, and our You Tubes, and our cell phones, and our online forums, our parents not staying home with their children, our children filling the void with sex and drugs, our children growing up into adults and worsening the trend, we are becoming so distant from our fellow man and woman, events like this should not surprise us.

people worry about technology and sex and drugs and adults working all the time and its influence on children that they forget this is nothing new in the history of the world...we didnt have ipods way back when or cell phones back then...but people were more social and attended concerts or church functionsor various other events...and because of bad or incapable medicine and transportation that was equally bad or incapable, parents were probably around less due to death and having to work harder and farther away...and as for sex and drugs...well...as soon as humans had the capacity to realize that sex and drugs brought happiness and pleasure(although fleeting) it became an addiction to the human habit...these trends arent worsening what it means to be a person...its worsening what it takes to be an honorable person...and honoring other people is to love others and show them that you love them through means of physical contact...and that is the shame in this story...that these people think they can manipulate what it is to be a person with emotions and feelings rather than doing what is their duty as educators which is to encourage love, devotion and respect of their fellow man

I'd personally like to see no PDA in schools (it's just not right looking at kids tonguing each other in the hall between blocks) but I see no problem with a hug, or walking around holding hands.

With our I Pods, and our You Tubes, and our cell phones, and our online forums, our parents not staying home with their children, our children filling the void with sex and drugs, our children growing up into adults and worsening the trend, we are becoming so distant from our fellow man and woman, events like this should not surprise us.

 

Said Rudy "TheGangster"

Yay Fairfax!!

 

But ya going way overboard here. I mean no handshakes? wow

 

Good idea to keep PDA down, but this takes it like 4 steps too far

Two kids had sex with eachother in the bathroom in my middle school.

Am I the only one here who has no idea what PDA stands for?

Public Display of Affection.

Two kids had sex with eachother in the bathroom in my middle school.

 

at the school i worked at last year, two freshman had sex in the bathroom and filmed it on a cellphone camera

 

needless to say it didn't go over well

:lol

 

Morons.

This place would of hated the coaches at my highschool.

 

A smack on the back or a punch in the arm from our baseball coach wasnt uncommon when doing something really good or really bad.

Although I don't agree with PDA, the no touching rule just doesn't make sense. We are taught manners as a society and one of the first greetings is a handshake. Not a hand job, just a handshake.

 

While I don't like seeing tonsil hockey in public, these kids should be able to hug one another. But when something like this comes up, the battle lines are drawn. How long is acceptable? A five second hug? A ten second hug? Who the hell is going to be standing there timing them?

 

A good idea on paper but not executable in real life.