When Chiquita Lockett learned of her 9-year-old son's two-day suspension from school, she assumed he had done something that merited the punishment. To her shock, the Brookside Elementary school principal called her at home to inform her that Emanyea, her son, was suspended for an incident of sexual harassment. He had called a teacher "cute."

According to the boy, he was talking to another student in private about a certain teacher whom he called "cute." A substitute, not the teacher he was referring to, overheard his conversation and reported it to the principal. Emanyea was then suspended. 

In a letter to Ms. Lockett, the school says that Emanyea called the teacher "fine" in a suggestive tone. The letter also stated the boy had been warned about calling students inappropriate words that violated the student code of conduct. 

Ms. Lockett, however, says she was never informed of her son's previous bad language and that if a suspension was imminent, she should have been notified. The boy admitted to calling the teacher "cute" but said he never called anyone a bad name.

Although normally it would be difficult to fully assess the situation due to the fact that none of us were there, the school's version of the story makes me pretty positive that a two-day suspension is way out of line. 

There are so many terrible things that children do to one another in schools that get brushed aside or completely overlooked by authorities. Take for example the years of bullying that culminated in the suicide of 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer this past September in New York. Months after his suicide, the bullies were suspended, even though Jamey and his parents had met with school authorities many times to complain about the taunting. 

So when I hear that a 9-year-old is suspended for calling a teacher "cute" or "fine" but bullies who harass other student based on their sexual orientation are only suspended after they push that student to suicide, I can't help but feel enraged.  

I would like to hope that the substitute teacher, who heard Emanyea's comment, could have handled the matter in the moment instead of running to the principal. 

After all, the boy didn't make the comment to the teacher. The teacher overheard him saying it to his friend, and it's pretty common for little boys to develop crushes and express them to their peers. Doing so is most certainly not sexual harassment. 

By Emanyea's principal's logic, we are supposed to believe that children who call anyone "cute" or "fine" are sexual harassing. 

Adults call children "cute" all the time. So by this same logic, the principal believes that when we do so, we are sexually harassing as well. 

Calling what Emanyea said "sexual harassment" is just illogical and foolish. It seems that the principal just has an issue with the kid and was looking for any excuse to punish him.