Brad Russ
11-14-2006, 08:16 PM
By BILL HUGHES
THE JOURNAL NEWS
PUTNAM VALLEY - A 10-year-old boy was suspended from school for two days this week for asking his homeroom teacher for a hug a month after he was reprimanded for telling her she "looked sexy."
The parents of Putnam Valley Middle School fifth-grader Aaron Perez said they are in the process of hiring an attorney to pursue a civil lawsuit because they believe their son's civil rights were violated by the suspension.
"It was an innocent gesture from him," said his mother, Lira Garcia-Perez. "He doesn't know, if you ask him, 'what does sexy mean?' he says, 'that you're pretty.' "
Perez, who works as a secretary to the principal of P.S. 335 in the Bronx, said a school social worker called her last month after her son was reprimanded for telling his teacher she looked sexy. Then on Wednesday morning, school officials called her husband, Samuel, at home and told him he had to pick their son up immediately because he was being suspended.
The Perezes said their son told them that on Friday afternoon, he had asked his teacher for a hug. "She said 'Aaron, that's inappropriate,' " said Mrs. Perez. "And he said, 'But I just wanted to give you a hug to wish you a good weekend.' It's ridiculous, they sanctify the teacher, and they traumatize the child."
School officials could not be reached for comment yesterday, and several members of the school's Parent Teacher Association said they had not heard about the suspension and could not comment on it.
In an interview broadcast yesterday on Cablevision, Principal Ed Hallisey declined to discuss the specifics of the suspension but defended the decision.
"We dealt with this issue fairly, we dealt with this issue responsibly, we dealt with this issue with parents, and we dealt with this issue swiftly," Hallisey said.
Aaron was kept out of school Wednesday and Thursday, and when he returned yesterday, his mother requested that he be placed in a different homeroom. She said her husband plans to accompany him Monday to ensure that the reassignment is permanent.
"The kid feels like he's a criminal," she said. "We told him you did nothing wrong, please don't feel that you're a criminal, because you know, he's afraid now, he doesn't want to have a female teacher. He says, 'Mommy I'm afraid that this is going to happen again, what am I supposed to do?' He's afraid to walk next to a female adult that's not me, his mom. That's the traumatization that he has in his head."
THE JOURNAL NEWS
PUTNAM VALLEY - A 10-year-old boy was suspended from school for two days this week for asking his homeroom teacher for a hug a month after he was reprimanded for telling her she "looked sexy."
The parents of Putnam Valley Middle School fifth-grader Aaron Perez said they are in the process of hiring an attorney to pursue a civil lawsuit because they believe their son's civil rights were violated by the suspension.
"It was an innocent gesture from him," said his mother, Lira Garcia-Perez. "He doesn't know, if you ask him, 'what does sexy mean?' he says, 'that you're pretty.' "
Perez, who works as a secretary to the principal of P.S. 335 in the Bronx, said a school social worker called her last month after her son was reprimanded for telling his teacher she looked sexy. Then on Wednesday morning, school officials called her husband, Samuel, at home and told him he had to pick their son up immediately because he was being suspended.
The Perezes said their son told them that on Friday afternoon, he had asked his teacher for a hug. "She said 'Aaron, that's inappropriate,' " said Mrs. Perez. "And he said, 'But I just wanted to give you a hug to wish you a good weekend.' It's ridiculous, they sanctify the teacher, and they traumatize the child."
School officials could not be reached for comment yesterday, and several members of the school's Parent Teacher Association said they had not heard about the suspension and could not comment on it.
In an interview broadcast yesterday on Cablevision, Principal Ed Hallisey declined to discuss the specifics of the suspension but defended the decision.
"We dealt with this issue fairly, we dealt with this issue responsibly, we dealt with this issue with parents, and we dealt with this issue swiftly," Hallisey said.
Aaron was kept out of school Wednesday and Thursday, and when he returned yesterday, his mother requested that he be placed in a different homeroom. She said her husband plans to accompany him Monday to ensure that the reassignment is permanent.
"The kid feels like he's a criminal," she said. "We told him you did nothing wrong, please don't feel that you're a criminal, because you know, he's afraid now, he doesn't want to have a female teacher. He says, 'Mommy I'm afraid that this is going to happen again, what am I supposed to do?' He's afraid to walk next to a female adult that's not me, his mom. That's the traumatization that he has in his head."