A Florida fourth grader was suspended from elementary school and faces a potential misdemeanor charge of battery after he hugged a school counselor late last month.
The counselor, who works at Holly Hill School in Volusia County, Florida, said she was visiting a classroom on October 24 when a 10 year old asked for a hug, NBC News reported. The counselor, who invoked a Florida rule allowing her to remain unnamed, claimed in a police report and the school’s suspension letter that she “turned sideways to give a side hug” to the student, who put one arm around her shoulder but “reached and grabbed her left breast” with his other hand. In the report, the counselor acknowledges that she removed the student’s hand and walked away.
The boy’s family denies he inappropriately touched the counselor.
Yet police were called to the school on reports of an alleged battery, which the young student now faces, though he hasn’t been charged yet.