A nine-year-old boy from Tampa, Fla., is now facing sexual harassment charges after leaving an "unwanted" love note to his crush, WPTV reports.
The mother of the fourth-grader told WPTV that school administrators, including the principal, threatened the kid for sexual harassment. The mother, who asked not to be identified to keep their privacy, said that her son passed a "very sweet" letter to his crush, writing "How she wears the same uniform and how her eyes sparkled like diamonds." Yahoo! Parenting also reported that the note contained words like “I like you” written inside a heart.
However, the situation escalated when other students teased the nine-year-old that he wanted to see his crush naked.
"That's when the principal proceeded to tell me that it wasn't appropriate that he was writing the note and that if he writes another note, they are going to file sexual harassment charges on my 9-year-old," the mom told WPTV.
Officials from the Hillsborough school district told ABC Action News that the boy did not only write one letter. He wrote multiple "unwanted" notes that bordered on harassment. The school also added that the note itself was not the problem, but the intensified teasing caused by it.
Dr. Valerie McClain, a licensed psychologist in Tampa, told the news outlet that for her, this was not sexual harassment, saying, "It may be something he thought was very sweet and innocent."
She further stressed the importance of parents talking to their children regarding boundaries and appropriate behavior in school. "What needs to happen is education needs to be provided about how to relate to this young girl or how to stay away from talking to her, if that's the goal," McClain explained.
Kristi Davisson, an attorney for children in the school district, revealed to Yahoo! Parenting, "I’m disappointed that the authorities chose to take such a heavy handed approach, if, in fact, they did. I’d be surprised if any law enforcement officer or prosecutor’s office would take legal action.”
Davisson went on to say that by despite the district's move against bullying, they have subjected the boy to become a victim of it. If the Hillsborough school district continues to file sexual harassment to the nine-year-old, the family has grounds for a countersuit.
“But if [these reports are] all true, everything has reached the point of absurdity,” Davisson says.
However, despite the school's stand, the kid's mom still stands that his son did nothing wrong.
"My 9-year-old doesn't even know what sexual harassment means," she said.
