Student Asks for Hug, Gets Suspended

November 14, 2006 (WPVI) -- First he called his teacher sexy. Then he asked her for a hug. And now, his school has said that is quite enough.

It happened at Putnam Valley Middle School, in the New York City suburbs. 10-year-old Aaron Perez says he asked his teacher for a hug two weeks ago. It was to wish her a good weekend, the fifth grader claims.

The teacher refused the hug, but school officials did tell Aaron he would be serving a suspension.

So what's the big deal?

Well, Putnam Valley says the hug request was just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, Aaron has been disciplined for a number of incidents. The most recent one was when he told the very same teacher that she was "sexy."

Here is Guy Tutty, the school superintendent: "More than just one event, but the one event that we're discussing, a suspension did take place and we thought we handled it swiftly, we handled it fairly."

Aaron's parents come to his defense on that one, saying the term "sexy" is used all the time in his house, and is equated to "beautiful." They say his comment was simply misinterpreted.

Lira Garcia is his mother: "My son doesn't know about the birds and the bees yet, he's an innocent child."

GET YOUR THINKING CAPS...

In a few days, we will be asking our viewers to help us select the "Great Wonders of the Delaware and Lehigh Valleys." It is in conjunction with the ongoing Good Morning America series the New Seven Wonders of the World."

I know...how can anything in our region compare with the beauty and magnificence of Jerusalem's Old City, or the polar icecaps?

Don't worry. We still have some pretty impressive sites around here. So here's the question: what are they?

Keep monitoring 6abc.com. We are asking everyone to help us compile our own list. You will be able to do it on our morning show page later this week.

Click here for the Action News morning show page

Mind you, this is nothing official - it is just a fun way to be interactive, and talk about some of the things we should be proud of in our area.

I'll see you tomorrow morning.

Later,

Matt

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