Today is a gorgeous day. Temperature is expected to hit the mid 70's and may actually touch 80 before the week is out. Wow.

Since my computer went down, I find myself well behing the news. So forgive me if you've heard this one:

Teacher Makes 5-Year-Old Apologize For Hugging

MAYNARD, Mass. -- A Massachusetts family is outraged after their 5-year-old daughter was forced to write a letter denouncing hugging after a classmate embraced her.

Brenda Brier and Michael Marino pulled their daughter, Savannah, out of school early Wednesday. The couple was angry after a meeting with officials at the Greenmeadow Elementary School in Maynard, Mass., where Savannah is in kindergarten.

At issue is a hug Savannah said she got on the playground from a friend named Sophie. Savannah hugged Sophie back. The hugs resulted in Savannah having to write a letter, complete with teacher corrections, that read, "I touch Sophie because she touch me and I didn't like it because she was hugging me. I didn't like when she hugged me."

"She said, 'I'm really sad that I got in trouble for hugging,'" Brier said.

"I can understand if boys are playing rough or kids are pulling each other around -- that's one thing. But when kids are being affectionate, I mean hugging, hey, they shouldn't be disciplined over it and they shouldn't be lying in letters making the kid say the opposite that they don't like to hug," Marino said.

School Superintendent Mark Masterson said there was a "dispute of the facts between a hug and a lifting of a child off the floor." The superintendent said the school reported "one girl bear hugged another girl and lifted her off the ground. The aide who was monitoring told the teacher. The teacher asked several students to write a note to their parents and describe
what happened."

Savannah said she did not lift her classmate off the ground.

"They're trying to accuse her now, basically," Brier said.

Savannah's parents said it should have never gone this far, and want an apology from the school. The family said they are so upset they'll start looking for a new school for their daughter to attend.

Oh, puleeeeze! Is it just me? Is anyone paying attention to what damage these "zero-intellegence" rules are doing to own kids?

Our schools have some huge problems, like gangs, guns, abissimal education problems, poor management, poor use of funds, uneducated teachers and teachers who can not understand why having sex with a student is wrong.

Yet, this school has the audacity to punish a 5-year-old girl for being a 5-year-old girl!

There are other reasons why I send my children to private school. But take those reasons away, and I still wouldn't want my kids to learn from these idiots.

If you want to ensure the downfall of the American society, look no further than keeping the public school system at the status quo. Without some semblance of common sense on our part, our children will grow up incapable of keeping America as a strong, vibrant country.