Don’t look now, but ridiculous things are still happening left and right in Florida. Ella Fishbough, an eighth grader at Jackson Heights Middle School in Oviedo, Fla., had never gotten in trouble at school before. She came into school one day to find that her friend was having a bad day, probably because he’s in the eighth grade and in Florida.

So Ella did what good friends do - she gave him a hug. And was promptly given a detention. “It was literally for a second,” Ella, 14, told Click Orlando. But according to the Seminole County School District, “Inappropriate or obscene acts including unwelcome or inappropriate touching, or any other physical act that is considered to be offensive, socially unacceptable or not suitable for an educational setting,” are strictly prohibited (without the express written consent of Major League Baseball). Under this rule, Jackson Heights banned hugs, holding hands, linking arms, and (gasp!) kissing, all considered PDAs or Public Displays of Affection. High fives were not mentioned.

Ella’s parents, however, have not embraced the school’s decision to give her detention. “I do think about inappropriate touching and boys and girls at this age having feelings for one another,” said Kathy Fishbough, Ella’s mother. “But that’s not what we’re dealing with here. And if an administration can’t tell the difference between a friendly ‘How ya doin’?’ hug and an inappropriate hug, then I think we have another big problem.”

Ella’s mother continued, “I did ask the principal, ‘If something had happened in our family, and she needed to console her cousin, or her cousin wanted to console her, would Ella get in trouble? She said, ‘Yes, ma’am. She would get a PDA.'” You may have seen Ella’s principal as John Lithgow in Dirty Dancing.

Ella’s case appears not to be an isolated incident but part of a countrywide hug epidemic, with a handful of other students earning suspensions for hugs over the past several years. School superintendent Sam McGowen actually yold CNN, “You know, hugs lead to other things,” meaning there is actually such a thing as a gateway hug. Ella’s hug punishment occurs this Friday.

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