School accuses 5-year-old of sex harassment

[Herman Munster]

http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=154557&format=print

HAGERSTOWN - A kindergarten student was accused earlier this month of sexually harassing a classmate at Lincolnshire Elementary School, an accusation that will remain on his record until he moves to middle school.

Washington County Public Schools spokeswoman Carol Mowen said the definition of sexual harassment used by the school system is, "unwelcome sexual advances, request for sexual favors and/or other inappropriate verbal, written or physical conduct of a sexual nature directed toward others."

Mowen said that definition comes from the Maryland State Department of Education.

According to a school document provided by the boy's father, the 5-year-old pinched a girl's buttocks on Dec. 8 in a hallway at the school south of Hagerstown.

Charles Vallance, the boy's father, said he was unable to explain to his son what he had done.

"He knows nothing about sex," Vallance said. "There's no way to explain what he's been written up for. He knows it as playing around. He doesn't know it as anything sexual at all."

[MadMaddie]

1. This is going beyond ridiculous....what the hell is wrong with

the adults....in this situation?

[Igel]

3. The adults are obviously incapable of applying a definition properly.

They taught us that in Maryland in 3rd grade, but that was back in the '60s.

[aikoaiko]

2. on the face of it -- it seems wrong.

[koopie57]

4. adults are screwing the kids up awfully early in Hagerstown

What is wrong with a person who sees this as sexual? I think the adults making such an issue out of this protest too much. I think some f*cked up adult in this situation is a pedophile.

[ContraBass Black]

5. Can't they just tell him, "don't touch people on that body part or pinch them?"

Sounds easily solved to me.

[Mend]

8. five year olds already know this rule...unless he has been locked

in an attic until now. If he went through pre-school as so many kids do, he learned all about good and bad touching.

[ContraBass Black]

9. There should already be punishments in place for such behavior.

[Mend]

10. I agree....otherwise some very angry parents of little 5 year old girls

might take the matter into their own hands. Parents need to be assured that the school will protect their kids.

[EdwardM]

16. I certainly didn't learn that in preschool.

I can't imagine anything more creepy than that. I would assume that this is just a 5 year old kid playing around, and this sexual harrassment stuff is garbage.

[Mike Daniels]

29. Give me a break.....

Any concept of good touching and bad touching at the age you mention is most likely in the context of adults touching a child and perhaps a child fighting another child.

If they are applying good touching and bad touching to a "child on child" basis given the age in question the most this specific act warrents is a simple "we don't do that to other people."

To imply that a child at this age has any concept of sexuality or sexual advances is utterly inane. If, against all likely reason, this act was sexually motivated then perhaps the culture the child has been exposed to at this time needs to be given a serious look.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

6. God Our Society Has Become Such A Bunch Of Ignorant Sick Jerkoff Motherfuckers.

How dare they do this to our children and accuse them of such things. How fuckin dare they.

Motherfuckers.

[Mend]

7. it is certainly a boundary violation if not explicitly sexual....

kids need to be taught to keep their hands off of others. When I was a child, I was goosed by a strange boy and fifty years later I still remember it. Sorry if you all think this is a big bunch of nothing, boys will be boys, but as a girl and as a woman I didn't and don't like uninvited encrouching and I doubt the little girl who got pinched appreciated it either. She needs our empathy and protection as well. According to Freud, children are quite aware of sexuality at this age, in the broadest sense of the word.

[Morgana LaFey]

11. Kids don't engage in this type of behavior on their own

They don't make up stuff like this; they're TAUGHT stuff like this.

The father, if he's sincere and honest (aka: innocent himself), needs to look at ALL the influences in his son's life because there's a very large chance that one of them (at least) isn't all that healthy.

And shame on the school for not recognizing that and suggesting that the little perp may himself be sending out a cry for help.

[BlackVelvet04]

12. You can't be serious?

Kids pinch each other. He happened to pinch the girls butt. They doesn't mean he is abused and damn sure doesn't mean it was sexual. He should be told not to pinch and not to touch other's butts. Problem solved.

Get a grip, people.

[badgerpup]

17. Way back when we rode dinosaurs to school...

...and they had square wheels there was pinching going on.

Boys pinched girls, girls pinched boys, and anybody not wearing green on St Patrick's Day (sometimes even then) got pinched.
There was nothing sexual about it; it was a way to annoy your classmate.

I swear, more and more I see people acting like computers or robots...or bureaucrats...all or nothing response and no damn THINKING involved. :banghead:

[NorthernSpy]

21. that is just so fucking ridiculous...

Kids have been pinching other kids (even in the -- gasp! -- butt) for as long as there have been kids, fingers, and butts.

Just send the little pest to the time-out chair, or whatever, and kick those sex-harassment crazies out of our schools.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

13. Are they making him wear a "P" for "Pincher"?

This behavior better be nipped in the bud, lest he start snapping towels at nekkid butts in the boys' locker room some day.

[verse18]

14. This is natural sexual behavior for a child that age.

It's in every child development book out there. Children are curious about their bodies and the body of others. For the school to call it sexual harassment is so wrong. Harassment indicates that one person has power over the other.

[loyalsister]

19. Not necessarily this....

This may be more like how a kid with a very poor role model behaves.
In fact one whose father likes to have the "upper hand" over his mom or something.
My dad used to do that all the time to my mom, myself, and all of my sisters. If there had been boys, I can imagine that they might have thought it was appropriate behavior.
But, pinching and even tickling when it is unwelcome is a way of trying to show power.

[BlackVelvet04]

34. Five year olds do this kind of thing

because they are five year olds. This was not a grown man, but a five year old child.

[Kiouni]

15. They complain about being underpaid

but the administration in this town obviously has too much time on their hands.

[madmusic]

18. Think that's bad, read this (court transcript)

When Mrs. DeNolf listened to Sommerman’s message she assumed that the topic of the meeting would be the annual physicals, which she had forgotten about until she received Ms. Sommerman’s call. She quickly made an appointment with the children’s pediatrician for the following week. She asked her husband to pick up an appointment card on his way home from work so she could show it to the social worker the following day.

The next day, Sommerman arrived at the DeNolf home at 10 o’clock. When Mrs. DeNolf answered the door, Sommerman handed her a business card, which identified her as an “Emergency Child Welfare Investigator,” and told Mrs. DeNolf that she was investigating a report of failing to supervise her children and possible sexual abuse.

Mrs. DeNolf expressed surprise and said she thought the meeting was just a routine follow-up on the children’s physical exams. Had she known the reason for Sommerman’s presence, Mrs. DeNolf continued, she would have called her lawyer as soon as she got the phone message. She indicated her willingness to cooperate but stated that her husband was not home and she would prefer to wait until he was present to talk with her.

Ms. Sommerman persisted and said that it was necessary for her to enter the home to interview the children immediately. Mrs. DeNolf asked Ms. Sommerman if she could call her husband and have him come home from work before admitting the social worker. She explained that he worked nearby and it would take him less than a half hour to come home.

To this Ms. Sommerman responded, “Do you have something to hide? Don’t you know that if you don’t let me in right now I can just call the police and have the children removed?” Fearing the loss of her children, Mrs. DeNolf stepped back from the door and the social worker walked in. Mrs. DeNolf immediately called her husband and asked him to come home.

Once in the home, Mrs. DeNolf called her children into the living room, where the social worker could see that they were clean, well dressed, and obviously in good health. The social worker insisted on interviewing the children apart from their mother.

Again, Mrs. DeNolf objected. Ms. Sommerman said, “Look, I don’t have time for this. If you refuse to let me talk to them privately I will take them to my car and drive them to my office right now.”

Mrs. DeNolf told her children to go with the social worker who took them into a back bedroom and locked the door. Sommerman questioned the children about their parents and regarding any inappropriate touching by their father, which the children denied. She then removed 3-year-old Lucy’s clothing to inspect for any unusual marks on their bottoms or her genital region. When she approached 5 year-old Gabe to do the same, he began to cry and call for his mother. Sommerman told him she must do as she said and he quieted down while she stripped him and looked for marks.

At this point, Mr. DeNolf arrived home with his attorney and demanded to see his children.

more: http://sourcebook.fsc.edu/polisci/mootcase2005.html">State of Olympus Department of Social Services and Samantha Sommerman, Petitioners v. William and Mary DeNolf, Respondents

[Squatch]

28. nevermind

[Mad_Dem_X]

31. OMFG

That's outrageous! I can only imagine what the poor mother was going thru. Locking the kids in a room and taking off their clothes, with no other person present??? That CANNOT be legal.

[booksenkatz]

39. Breathtaking

I would have phoned 911 and screamed, "Help! A stranger has just burst into my house and is raping my child!" No one has the right to molest my child like that. They'd have to kill me first.
:mad:

[knitter4democracy]

43. In Michigan, they can do that at school with no notice to parents.

I found that out after an incident with a neighbor. Freaks me out.

[madmusic]

50. Is this one a real case?

After reading it again and noticing "State of Olympus" and Googling it, it appears to be a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moot_court">moot court hypothetical, but is it a hypothetical case or a hypothetical court based on a real case? I'm not so sure now.

But if they do that in Michigan, the result would be about the same. The kids hearing some stranger is going to take them away would be bad enough by itself.

[knitter4democracy]

55. Yeah, it would be really scary.

The social workers have the right here to question a kid in a private room at school with no other adult present and no notification for the parents.

[WindRavenX]

52. are you serious?

:wtf:

Wow, this is a scary world.

Makes me not want to have kids with all this horseshit going on...

[knitter4democracy]

54. Yup. A neighbor reported us for child neglect. That's how I know.

I was nine months preggers with our son, it was late June, and our daughter was just two. She was really hard to keep dressed on a good day, but when it's hot and humid, forget it. She and I were out in our front yard playing, and she was running around with only a diaper on. That night, we got a knock on our door from a police officer. A neighbor had called in a child neglect claim, saying they never saw any clothes on our daughter and were worried she didn't have any. :eyes: The police officer was more than kind and professional, looked around me at our home, saw that our daughter (still mostly naked *sigh*) was healthy and fine, and told me not to worry about it.

Yeah, preggers mama not to worry about someone taking her kids. :eyes: I started calling around to get copies of any paperwork the next day. The police officer had only filed a report that she'd checked it out and found no evidence of anything. Then I worried that they'd also called CPS, so I called them, too. That's when I found out that they have this odd system of dealing with reports, and one thing they can do is go to a child's school, take them out of class, and question the child in a private room with no other adults in there and no notification to the parents. That scared the hell out of me, and it still does.

[madmusic]

56. In California, that would put you on the secret Index...

I was just reading about that and this is news to me.

An attorney who brought a civil rights suit on behalf of a fictitiously named client whose name appeared in the state’s central child abuse registry, and who turned out to be the very client she sued for, has been denied attorney fees by this district’s Court of Appeal.

Div. One, in an unpublished opinion by Justice Reuben Ortega, last week affirmed a Los Angeles Superior Court judge’s order denying fees to Beverly Hills lawyer Esther G. Boynton.

Boynton brought suit in 1993 on behalf of “Jane Coe,” alleging that Coe and her daughter, then a minor, were both wrongfully listed in the Child Abuse Central Index. Named as defendants in the action were the City of Los Angeles; the state Department of Justice, which administers the CACI; the state attorney general; and the California Department of Social Services.

Boynton, who has lobbied against the index, later acknowledged to a reporter that she and Coe were the same person. Boynton said she was placed on the registry without her knowledge after her daughter was accidentally burned by hot coffee and sought treatment at a Los Angeles hospital in 1990.

Boynton and her then 16-year-old daughter separately told investigators that the incident was an accident. But because the coffee splashed when Boynton threw up her arms during a verbal argument, and because she then blamed herself for the injury, investigators were called in, the Sacramento Bee reported.

Boynton thought the matter was closed, she said, until she discovered her name on the registry three years later when she wanted to volunteer for a reading program.

http://www.metnews.com/articles/2004/coex090804.htm

EDIT quote

[knitter4democracy]

59. They never called CPS, so there's no record there.

I called everyone I could think of, and all they did was call the police, and the officer made it drop.

Don't citizens have the right to know if there's paperwork on them? Why treat potentially abusive parents (who have only had one call, and that one dropped with no evidence) like terrorists who need a secret file?

[madmusic]

60. Law enforcement is an agency.

"Under current law, agencies that investigate reports and suspicions of child abuse are required to forward summaries to the DOJ for inclusion in the index.

"An entry for each investigation is made, identifying the suspects and victims, the agency involved, the case name or number, the allegations, and the agency’s conclusion, if any, as to whether the allegations were substantiated."

Evidently, the parent will be notified now, but the incident is still listed as substantiated, unsubstantiated or unfounded, or "Yes," "Maybe," or "No." The "Maybe" is the most insidious because there is a listing without any proof. The good intentions of the law make sense, but I wonder how effective it is without other social support for prevention. And it's telling that the government was forced to include standards for notification and appeal.

[BlackVelvet04]

44. What???????

"Mrs. DeNolf told her children to go with the social worker who took them into a back bedroom and locked the door. She then removed 3-year-old Lucy’s clothing to inspect for any unusual marks on their bottoms or her genital region. When she approached 5 year-old Gabe to do the same, he began to cry and call for his mother. Sommerman told him she must do as she said and he quieted down while she stripped him and looked for marks."

A social worker is allowed to do this? And that's not traumatizing to a child?

This is an absolute outrage. Is this what America has come to?

[mainegreen]

46. DHS makes Vogons look like your cuddly aunt Tilde.

A more incompetent group of people I have never met.
I firmly believe not a one of them has a soul.

[NorthernSpy]

47. they actually gave awards to caseworkers involved in Logan Marr's sad fate...

... right in the aftermath of Logan's murder by caseworker and adopter Sally Schofield -- whose imprisonment is continually a source of delight to me.


Despicable doesn't even begin to cover it.

[Vidar]

20. Another triumph for the puritans. Makes me proud to have a president

that blew up frogs.

[LWolf]

22. I don't know anything about this particular case.

I do know, from much experience, that children exposed to adult sexual behavior, porn, etc. will work out sexual themes in their play with peers at younger ages than 5.

I can't speak for the Maryland dop's policies or this particular case, not being familiar with them.

I can say that children younger than 5 can engage in sexual harassment, given prior exposure, or can interpret another's innocent play as such.

[NorthernSpy]

23. thanks to the MacDworkinauts for this latest triumph...

... of ideology over sanity.


:puke:


Their fingerprints are all over trumped up sex-abuse hysterias like this, and everyone knows it. Not everyone will come right out and say it, tho...

[Mend]

24. please tell us what you would want if it was your little girl

getting pinched on the ass? Just what is okay for the rest of the kids to feel safe and secure at school?

[ProdigalJunkMail]

27. I have three little girls...

and I would never want one of their little classmates at FIVE YEARS OLD to be accused of sexual harassment. There has to be some sort of intent here and intent implies knowledge and understanding. Neither of which a five year old has. He might have been mimicking behaviors, but that still is not SEXUAL harassment. It is called play and it has been happening as long as there have been five year old little boys and girls. And you people that believe otherwise have zero understanding of childhood development.

sP

[mondo joe]

30. I have two daughters. If they were being pinched and were troubled by it - rather

than just dealing it like any number of goofy disputes that happen every day at that age - I'd talk with the teacher about it, and ask that he explain to the pincher that it's not okay.

I wouldn't react in this ridiculous way.

[hiaasenrocks]

25. Ah, what the hell. Just go ahead and lock him up forever and claim he's a rapist.

That's usually how these DU threads end up anyway when the PC extremists arrive...

[Pithlet]

51. And, wow! You were so right!

Look at all the PC run amok in this thread! Hundreds of posts. Those wacky DUers!

[KurtNYC]

26. Well I'm going to make the crazy assumption that the staff at

Lincolnshire Elementary School have seen some amount of interaction between children -- let's say 7 hours a day for the length of their careers. And I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt here that they saw something in this child's actions that raised a red flag and acted on it.

[NorthernSpy]

33. ooorrrr they could be implementing policies cooked up by lawsuit-shy bureaucrats...

... who've been scared straight at some dreadful Sexual Harassment Sensitivity Training. Like, instead of just trying a little common sense.

[mondo joe]

35. Give them what you like - charging a 5 year old with sexual harassment is

obscene.

[Beelzebud]

32. Castration, then the gas chamber for this sick perverted weirdo!!!!

I embrace what America is becoming.

/me pukes.

[BlackVelvet04]

36. I cannot believe how incredibly

STUPID this is. What a crime to label this child as a sexual harasser at the age of five for doing what five year olds do.

Kind of like labeling a child who bites as a cannibal.

Who is pushing this kind of bullshit?

[booksenkatz]

41. It's easier to label than to use it as a teaching moment. NT

[rucky]

45. Here's the inside scoop...

schools are getting sued left and right for seemingly innocent stuff like this. while this is an overreaction, it is important that the school document all instances. If the school did nothing, and the victim & parents viewed herself as a victim, that's a whole other tempest in another teapot, so the school is in a no-win situation. If the dad hadn't have gone public with his outrage, the incident would've gone into the file cabinet, and most likely never resurface again. BUT, often times (as I've witnessed as a 5th grade teacher), if there is a pattern of such behavior, it's a sign that there may be something not-so-right in the home. That's why you drop these little things in the cume folder, so the school can do early intervention if a pattern develops.

[rucky]

37. This should've been handled discreetly

the fact that we're discussing it is more damaging than the butt-pinching incident itself.

and dollars to donuts it's the DAD that's making hay of it. so now he's on a crusade, gone public (possible lawsuit), and using his son as a symbol...of what, exactly?

Butt-pinchers of the world, unite!

[FreeStateDemocrat]

58. On the front page of local RW rag newspaper, us discussing this will have little impact now.

I have seen many instances in older motion pictures where they have shown some neanderthal pinching a female's butt that is heavy-handedly portrayed as being humorous on some level that escapes me.

A bigger problem is that things supposedly put away in filing cabinets, now too often come back to terrorize people and destroy lives decades later.

For what it is worth, this is one of the worst performing schools in the local county system.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

38. "And a pinch to grow an inch"

had everyone in my class running after the birthday kid squealing and laughing once we all had finished singing the birthday song.

So that explains why we're all so screwed up!

:eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

[Beelzebud]

40. I'm filing sexual harrassment charges against Grandma today for doing that to me!

Come to think of it. I was a minor at the time.

I'll get her for child endangerment, and molestation!

[knitter4democracy]

42. He's probably seen Daddy pinch Mommy's butt.

Hubby and I kiss in front of the kids and don't hide the fact that we love each other. We've also made sure that they know that it's Mommy and Daddy behavior, not kid behavior. It wouldn't suprise me if the boy saw it at home and thought it just meant that you like someone and so did it.

The school way overreacted. The parents need to fight this.

[KansDem]

48. Whatever happened to "keep your hands to yourself?"

It seems that age-old rule would be more appropriate in this case than "sexual harassment."

[ProfessorGAC]

49. I Would Think, However,. . .

. . .they already have rules about keeping one's hands to one's self. To equate this incident with SH is laughable and delegitimizes true harrassment.

BTW: I think we're agreeing. Just was tacking onto your point.
The Professor

[in_cog_ni_to]

53. *sigh* This is too ridiculous for words. The dad has it right. How can he explain it

to his son if his son has NO CLUE what 'sex' is? Most 5 year olds don't know what sex is! Geezus. I'm speechless.:( That poor child.

[ForrestGump]

57. Stupid

Stupid.

Stupid.

Not the kid...the adults.


I got my bootie pinched today (by a showgirl...hot diggity dog, I tell ya) and didn't feel harassed. Actually, leave the five-year-olds alone -- they likely don't even know what sex is, anyway -- and focus on why it's okay for random women (the showgirl aside...I knew her already) to grab my behind in public when I'd possibly be arrested for returning the favor. And, no, I'm not another poor, downtrodden white male who's feeling put down by the System...I'm just somewhat interested in double standards of all flavors.