9-year-old suspended for calling teacher ‘cute’

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A North Carolina fourth grader says he didn’t even know what sexual harassment meant until he was suspended for telling another student that his teacher was “cute.”

Chiquita Lockett told WSOC that the principal of Brookside Elementary in Gastonia called to explain that her son, Emanyea, had been suspended for “sexual harassment.”

“I was talking to my friend and I said Mrs. Terry was cute,” the boy recalled. “And that’s all I said.”

Chiquita Lockett said the principal did not dispute Emanyea’s version of events.

A spokeswoman for the district told WSOC’s Alan Cavanna that the 9-year-old was suspended for “inappropriate behavior” because he made “inappropriate statements,” but she refused to give further details.

Gaston County School’s Student Code of Conduct (PDF) says that “disruption of school” is punishable by up to five days of out-of-school suspension. The code of conduct does not specifically mention “inappropriate behavior.”

Watch this video from WSOC, broadcast Dec. 2, 2011.