Mom: 4th-Grader's Love Notes Not Sexual Harassment

A 9-year-old Tampa fourth-grader may face sexual harassment charges if he doesn’t change his ways.

His crime, according to his mother?

Passing love notes to a girl in his school he thinks is “pretty and cute.” It seems he also admires the girl’s hair “because it is not sloppy” and says her eyes “sparkle like diamonds.” At least that’s what he wrote on loose-leaf paper sheets passed to the young girl.

Those notes became an issue when other students in the boy’s class found out about them and began picking on the child. When peers started teasing the boy, saying he wanted to see the little girl without her clothes on, the school’s principal intervened, several media outlets have reported.

The child, his mother claims, was told to stop passing notes or he could face sexual harassment charges.

“My 9-year-old doesn’t even know what sexual harassment means,” the mother, who isn’t being identified, said in a video interview.

See Also:

• Family Hires Attorney After Hug Leads to Detention

While the mom prefers anonymity for herself and her son, she has shared her story with the media.

Hillsborough County School District officials told Patch there was no discussion with the family about the possibility of sexual harassment charges. Other media outlets have reported that since the notes were unwanted and more than one was passed, they could be considered sexual harassment.

The little boy’s story isn’t the only one out of Florida schools to make headlines in recent weeks. The case of a 14-year-old girl who received a one-day detention for a 1-second hug has also caused waves. The Seminole County family involved in that case has hired an attorney to try and get the district to review its policies related to appropriate contact between students.

Meanwhile, in Hillsborough County, teachers will continue to discourage note passing to prevent disturbances such as the one surrounding the fourth-grader, ABC reported.

Image via Shutterstock

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 3:31 p.m. Nov. 13 with information from school district officials.