ED Issues Guidance on Sex Harassment of Students
The Department of Education last week issued final policy guidance for educators on sexual harassment of students. The document, among other guidelines, declares that a 1st grader should not be punished for a single kiss on a classmate's cheek.
The 18-page guidance, published March 13 in the Federal Register , makes a reference to the uproar last fall over Johnathan Prevette, the 6-year-old Lexington, N.C., boy who was punished under his school's sexual-harassment policy for kissing a girl in his 1st grade class. The school district later backtracked and said the boy violated a general behavior code. ( "Suspensions Spur Debate Over Discipline Codes," Oct. 23, 1996.)
"A kiss on the cheek by a 1st grader does not constitute sexual harassment," Norma V. Cantu, the department's assistant secretary for civil rights, says in an...
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