When I first read this I forwarded it to PFLAG…. who had NOT heard of the case.
That is just wrong. That is who should be handling this, community members.

They are on it now, so I hope for some good news… and at least some quality and equality ‘education’ to be taking place at that school.

Just another wingnut homophobe in denial… she should move to OK City and join Sally K… after all they are both ‘educators.’ … what a horrific thought.

One thing - if you’re an educator, I recommend you seek out a different line of work. If you’re not, I don’t recommend you take it up. Considering that venomous hatred for the students that you keep voicing, it’s not a job that you’re well-suited for. You’d be happier elsewhere.

Our SD has PDA rules that are consistent and enforced. We expect adult behavior and discipline when needed.

That said, we also had a Day of Silence for the recently passed child. Some of our students kept quiet and others attempted to bully them into speech. This was not tolerated.

As far as outing students, this is contrary to school policy and is grounds for dismissal. My own philosophy is such that the term, “that’s so gay”, is cause for immediate warning and will go to discipline for a second infraction.

This is Whitest Whitesylvania and many instructors are not as proactive in their LGBT tolerance. But then, I time debates to keep the playing field level. Banning speech is fascist and usually done when your arguments are weak. Along with ad hominem.

The “list of couples” approach is stupid if curbing actual sexual display behavior is the goal. If PDA was a problem, then hauling dry humpers and spit swappers to the principal’s office for discipline is the appropriate policy (Before a PDA ban in my high school in 1982, we had kids dry humping and sticking hands down pants in every hallway. Yuck!). It isn’t appropriate to make out in most public places. Going after “couples” is going after off-campus behavior and therefore deserves all the derision it gets.

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!!!!!”

. . . .

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.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/17/AR2007061701179.html

I have not seen an update on the story, so I don’t know if the policy was changed for this past academic year.

This was an instance of putting in an insane policy and allowing lax (and maybe selective) enforcement. Not clearly thought through. Young adolescents test limits constantly. If an educator is tired of making judgments on what is or is not inappropriate or execessive PDA (or other limits-testing behavior) that educator should get out of the business of teaching adolescents.

(And don’t kid yourself. The systems are full of conservatives who haaaaaaaaaaaaate the idea that they can’t tell the kids what to do all of the time.