Sam McNair, Georgia high school student hugs teacher, suspended for year, may lose scholarship to college
A Georgia high school students had earned a full athletic scholarship to college, but likely will not graduate in time after being suspended for one year as punishment for hugging a teacher.
Sam McNair, age 17, attends Duluth High School and was found guilty of violating the school’s rules regarding sexual harassment for a hug that was captured on video by a surveillance camera.
The teacher claims McNair placed his cheek and lips on her neck, something the students denied while talking with KCTV.
“I did not,” he says. “Something so innocent can be perceived as something totally opposite,” said McNair.
A video of the hug, captured by a surveillance camera, shows McNair enter a room, place his arms around the back and front of the teacher and tuck his head behind her neck.
According to the discipline report, the teacher alleged she warned McNair that hugs were inappropriate but he disputes that.
“He’s a senior. He plays football and was getting ready for lacrosse and you’re stripping him of even getting a full scholarship for athletics for college,” says his mother April McNair during the interview.
“I have five months left in my senior year. I don’t see why they would take that away from me,” the teen said.
Sam McNair does have a discipline record and previous suspensions but not for sexual harassment and he does not believe he should be punished for showing affection.
[…] and that the hug was more than just a hug, that the student also kissed her. It has also been told that despite the previous warning, the teacher had at that time declined to report […]