Family Hires Attorney After Hug Leads to Detention

Oviedo’s Fishbough family thinks Jackson Heights Middle School’s public display of affection rules go too far and they’re willing to take a stand to change them.

Proving the point, the parents of the 14-year-old girl who captured national media attention earlier this week when her one-second hug earned her a day in detention have retained an attorney. The Fishboughs are now being represented by the high-profile law firm Morgan & Morgan.

The firm’s Matt Morgan confirmed he is representing the family on his Twitter account Wednesday.

“The family hopes to raise awareness to this topic in an attempt to change these alleged policies and procedures,” he explained.

The full extent of the action the Fishboughs and Morgan intend to take against the school and the Seminole County School District remains unclear.

Morgan, however, sent a statement to Patch that notes that policies such as those alleged to be held by the school discourage children from being kind to one another.

“According to these alleged policies and procedures, a simple hug given to a friend in their time of need is apparently worthy of reprimand,” the statement said.

The firm went on to say the policies send the wrong kind of message to kids.

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“They should be encouraged to be kind, not discouraged,” the statement said. “The family hopes to bring awareness to this issue in an attempt to make our school systems a more compassionate and loving place for children to spend their days.”

The hoopla stems from a recent incident involving Ella Fishbough. She reportedly gave a male friend having a bad day a quick hug and ended up with a “Physical Display of Affection” or PDA violation to her credit. That violation is resulting in the teen having to serve detention on Friday, Nov. 6.

Ella’s mom, Kathy Fishbough, shared her daughter’s story with the media.

“It is a little unsettling to me that she’s not able to console another classmate,” Kathy said in a video interview.

The Seminole County School District issued a statement that its policy bans inappropriate touching, not necessarily hugging. Principals, however, are given the leeway to interpret the rules as they see fit, which means at Ella’s Jackson Heights Middle School, the rules include no hand holding, no arm linking, no kissing and no hugging.

Kathy told Click Orlando she posed a hypothetical question to school officials about the ban. She wanted to know if Ella would get in trouble if something happened in the family and Ella and her cousin, who attends the school, gave each other a hug. Would the two get in trouble? The answer was yes, Kathy said.

For its part, the Seminole County School District has said it is reviewing the “verbiage” used on Jackson Heights’ planners that clearly spells out that any and all “hugging” is not allowed, Click Orlando reported.

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