After a substitute teacher overheard 9-year-old Emanyea tell another student a teacher was 'cute,' school officials put him on two-day suspension for sexual harassment, WSOC TV reported.
The boy's mother, Chiquita Lockett, told the station she doesn't agree with the punishment.
"It's not like he went up to the woman and tried to grab her or touch her in a sexual way," Lockett told WSOC TV. "So why would he be suspended for two days?"
The school's code of conduct doesn't list sexual harassment, but does mention possession of any gun, rifle, pistol, firearm, prohibited substance or assault of a school employee as grounds for long-term suspension.
The incident comes after a 7-year-old Boston 1st-grader faces an investigation for sexual harassment after he allegedly struck another boy in the groin, the Boston Globe reported.
The boy's mother Tasha Lynch, however, says her child was simply defending himself, and that the boy he struck had choked him in a previous incident.
“I think my kid was right to fight back,’’ Lynch told the Globe. “He wasn’t doing anything except protecting himself.’’
Boston public schools spokesman Matthew Wilder told the publication that, although he could not give a comment, the school is carrying out an investigation to see who, if anyone, should be punished.
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