Education

NJ Middle School Now a Hug-Free Zone

ABERDEEN TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey school superintendent says there’s no policy against hugging in the district, and says the issue of middle schoolers being told by their principal not to hug each other anymore is being blown out of proportion.

The district says Matawan-Aberdeen Middle School Principal Tyler Blackmore made an announcement that its 900 students were in a “no hugging school” following some “incidents of unsuitable, physical interactions.”

School Superintendent David Healy said the district has the responsibility to teach children about appropriate interactions. But he said no one would be disciplined for hugging.

“There is no policy specific to hugging, and we have not, nor will we be, suspending students for hugging,” he said in a written statement. “It is unfortunate that there are those who find purpose and humor in sensationalizing such a routine school-related issue at the expense and inconvenience of our children and our school community.”

The superintendent said he believes the principal acted responsibly in making the recent school announcement regarding hugging. The district’s Board of Education does have policies in place to address bullying, inappropriate relationships and inappropriate conduct, he added.

Students range in ages from 11 to 14 in grades six to eight.

This isn’t the only instance of schools trying to ban behavior that might be perceived as affectionate. The New York Times reported on a trend in 2010 of educators trying to discourage the idea of “best friends.” This trend has recently found real-life expression in the United Kingdom, where teachers have been outright telling students not to have best friends.

Comments (34)

  • Arshloch
    Posted on March 24, 2012 at 2:45pm

    What’s the problem? Nobody In Joisey woith huggin no how a’tal.

    Report Post » Arshloch  
  • G-WHIZ
    Posted on March 24, 2012 at 11:44am

    I know that my/our relationship with my girlfriend was goeing “south” when…she would give me a handshake….and I would get a hug-and kiss from her dog!

    Report Post »  
  • B-Neil
    Posted on March 24, 2012 at 11:00am

    If there was ever a time for a protest, this is one. Every student in that school should pick a time every day to stop what there doing, hug each other and shout “ I WILL NOT COMPLY ”. Keep this action up untill the policy is changed. If the school punishes one student for this action, all students shoul walk out and not return untill the School leadership is fired or replaced. GOD BLESS AMERICA and INDIVIUAL FREEDOM

    Report Post »  
  • mgatc
    Posted on March 24, 2012 at 10:53am

    As a former teacher in an overcrowded Jr. High, hugging caused a logjam in the halls and increased the number of tardies the students received. They were not forbidden, but they did cause a lot of problems. I would just stand there and watch students hug and carry on as if they hadn’t seen each other in years, when in fact, they had seen each other the class before. I don’t see a problem with putting an end to it, but on the other hand, students learn consequences from loitering in the halls. Just feel sorry for those students who can’t get to their classes on time because of the overzealous students blocking the hallways.

    Report Post »  
    • The Gooch
      Posted on March 24, 2012 at 2:26pm

      Good point. This illustrates how consequences might be used to curb behavior. Step on the ‘offenders’ (within reason), but do so in a manner so that people learn from the experience. One’s choices should not be allowed to hinder another. This would take a vigilant and understanding staff. Maybe that’s too much to ask for. If hugs are the biggest concern you have in public school, I’d suspect you might be in a school many teachers can only dream of.

      Report Post »  
  • 1NJslave
    Posted on March 24, 2012 at 10:19am

    NJ schools are a perfect example of why parents should home school. The teachers there show up for a paycheck. Ask your child what they were taught on any given day and their reply is nothing. Now look at the cars parked in the lot, and you tell me that they do not get paid enough? Work only half a year, do not be held accountable for students failing, and blame bad parents for the disruption in the classroom. Wait, did I just sound like the POTUS?

    Report Post » 1NJslave  
  • Byrn67
    Posted on March 24, 2012 at 10:18am

    1 sex 1 mind 1 religion 1 goverment 1 leader : welcome to the brave new world .

    Report Post » Byrn67  
  • 1NJslave
    Posted on March 24, 2012 at 10:07am

    Hugging? Well, I guess it’s better than oral sex under the desk. Only in NJ do teachers save the taxpayers dime by combing driver ed. w/ sex ed class.

    Report Post » 1NJslave  
  • RugDog
    Posted on March 24, 2012 at 8:40am

    I‘m surprised they aren’t forcing Christians to hug muslims. Or at least kneel before them.

    Report Post » RugDog  
  • RamonPreston
    Posted on March 24, 2012 at 12:17am

    This country just gets dumber and dumber.

    Report Post » RamonPreston  
  • jujubeebee
    Posted on March 23, 2012 at 11:09pm

    I think that maybe the hugging was being done to an extreme….too frequent and done boy+girl a little too aggressively that they needed to put a stop to it. Kids this age really should be in school for the purpose of school and not in the halls hugging. This is one instance where I don’t agree that this is a liberal progressive thing.

    Report Post »  
    • The Gooch
      Posted on March 24, 2012 at 2:20pm

      Zero tolerance to an act such as hugging indicates a zero intelligence approach to all the minutiae of life. Sure, you don’t want grope fests in the building, but I cannot support ugly, authoritarian laziness that says all hugging is bad. It dehumanizes people (and kids are people) and sends the unspoken message “We own you.” How twisted up can we attempt to make our population? “You need to value the all powerful feeling, or we’ll make you a pariah and subject you to thought/speech crimes. But don’t you dare ever assume YOU can show human emotion.” Yep. That won’t produce an anxiety-ridden population looking to their taskmasters for tacit approval at every moment. I‘m sure our kids we’ll turn out just fine of we teach them that self-expression on such a simple and natural level is anathema to the state.
      There are way too damn many people playing lawyer and drill instructor with basic human interaction. By all means, time and place matters, but if you’re going to control people on this level, I say no instructors over a certain body mass index. You don’t want to set a bad example with fat teachers. What’s good for the goose…

      Report Post »  
  • Tigress1
    Posted on March 23, 2012 at 7:58pm

    Why don’t the schools focus on teaching things like Reading, Math, Science etc. instead of focusing on stupid things like hugging?

    Report Post » Tigress1  
    • Onowicit
      Posted on March 23, 2012 at 11:08pm

      Radical! Racist! Christian bigot! How dare insinuate that we should teach anything but love. Oh yea I forgot Nazi.

      Report Post » Onowicit  
  • The Gooch
    Posted on March 23, 2012 at 7:45pm

    What if I wanna hug a tree? I’m sure there has to be an exception for that….

    Report Post »  
    • OklahomaBound
      Posted on March 23, 2012 at 8:02pm

      You can hug people of the same gender though, in fact that’s encouraged.

      Report Post » OklahomaBound  
  • lukerw
    Posted on March 23, 2012 at 7:40pm

    Liberals… desire Robots… to Command & Control!

    Report Post » lukerw  
  • teebubba
    Posted on March 23, 2012 at 6:57pm

    I feel so much safer now knowing that those awkward age kids at the Manazan Aberdeen MS won’t be doing whatever it was that got “hugging” banned by a zero tolerance decree…..Why is there never any consequences for these imbecile principals?

    Report Post » teebubba  
    • teebubba
      Posted on March 23, 2012 at 7:00pm

      Oh…I forgot these northeastern principals are members of the Teamsters Union..

      Report Post » teebubba  
  • Baddoggy
    Posted on March 23, 2012 at 6:35pm

    No hugging…now go down to the nurse and pick up your birth control pills…

    Report Post » Baddoggy  
  • LameLiberals
    Posted on March 23, 2012 at 6:31pm

    Dump public schools.

    FREE taxpayers from the costs and corruption of unions =, from the salaries and pensions , from cost of building/maintaining schools and from the liberal indoctrination our our children.

    Give vouchers to every child and let them go to private schools.

    Report Post »  
  • Paul
    Posted on March 23, 2012 at 6:30pm

    “What are ya in for?”

    Hugging…

    Report Post » Paul  
  • pwatkins
    Posted on March 23, 2012 at 6:26pm

    I think they should enforce more hugging and less fighting, but I guess I can’t think like a liberal.

    Report Post »  
    • HorseCrazy
      Posted on March 23, 2012 at 7:19pm

      neither can I. be gay kids and have abortions but don’t hug!

      Report Post »  
  • Mark0331
    Posted on March 23, 2012 at 6:23pm

    The public sector unions in my state, NJ, are completely off the rails crazy, have been for some time…The teachers union is absolutely nuts, greedy and communistic in philosophy. Not all teachers are bad…but their Union extorts the tax payers worse than King George.

    Report Post » Mark0331  
    • HorseCrazy
      Posted on March 23, 2012 at 11:00pm

      wa state where I am too they are awful. teachers went on strike here and now we have kids going to classes mandatory on saturdays because the teachers contract wont allow them to make up the days this summer. they strike, our kids go to school 6 days a week.

      Report Post »  
  • Robert in Texas
    Posted on March 23, 2012 at 6:23pm

    He just needs a hug and is upset because he can’t get one… That’s all… Nothing to see here… Progressives in NJ aren’t running amok indoctrinating our children… Look! Over There! Shiney Objects! Nothing to see here…

    Report Post »  
  • MDDAWG
    Posted on March 23, 2012 at 6:22pm

    This reminds me of when I had children in the car on a road trip. If they started to argue, I would tell them all to be quiet and not talk to each other. Or if they were touching each other, I would say “Don’t you touch her anymore, ever. This car is now a no touching zone.”
    Come on, schools. Just talk to the offenders and the offended ones. It seems like we have to have rules or new laws for everything now. Ridiculous.

    Report Post » MDDAWG  
  • KickinBack
    Posted on March 23, 2012 at 6:21pm

    What’ll be next? Banning best friends? Oh yeah, they do that in the UK now. Liberal utopia.

    Report Post » KickinBack  
  • justangry
    Posted on March 23, 2012 at 6:13pm

    Christie is going to put up with this prog BS?

    Report Post » justangry  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on March 23, 2012 at 6:04pm

    Progressive PC idiocy run amok.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  

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