2nd Suspension for Kiss Is Cut Short
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NEW YORK — A 7-year-old was punished for stealing a kiss that he called affection and teachers called harassment. On Wednesday, administrators called the whole thing off.
De’Andre Dearinge’s five-day suspension was abandoned after everyone from the boy’s mother to Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani criticized the punishment as political correctness run amok.
“I got what I wanted,” the boy’s mother, Erica White, said Wednesday. “I wanted the suspension ended, and for this not to go on. They’re putting adult views in children’s minds.”
The little boy said he kissed the unidentified classmate last week because he liked her, and yanked at her skirt button as an homage to his favorite book, “Corduroy,” a teddy bear who’s missing a button.
“It appears as if this was kind of a normal, childish thing that happened and was misinterpreted,” Giuliani said. “It seems somebody made a mistake.”
De’Andre had already served three days of his suspension and school district officials decided to end the punishment there after meeting Wednesday with the boy’s mother and the girl’s family.
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