Updated: 8/25/2004 7:21 AM

By: Shawn Flynn, News 14 Carolina

CONCORD, N.C. -- A 15-year-old sophomore girl at Central Cabarrus High School was recently given three days of detention for hugging a friend.

School policy states that there should not be any body contact between individuals, but Ashley Mignosa and her mother said the guidelines have gone too far.

"Like the second day of school, I hugged my boyfriend and I got a warning saying I wasn't allowed to hug or I would be sent to the control room." Mignosa said Tuesday.

Central Cabarrus High School would not comment specifically on Ashley Mignosa's situation, citing student privacy rights. Mignosa did hug someone again, though -- a friend in front of the school. She was later punished for it.

"I think it was ridiculous," she said. "It was just a hug."

Michelle Mignosa, Ashley's mother, agrees.

"They said hugging leads to groping, groping leads to kissing, and you know what kissing leads to," Michelle Mignosa said. "And I said: 'It's not like my daughter wanted to have sex with him in the hallway. She was just saying hello.'"

The school would not comment specifically on Ashley Mignosa's situation, citing student privacy rights. But the school handbook, which is given to all students on the first day of school, says, "In order to insure the proper conduct between individuals and to avoid possible embarrassment for some, it has been determined there will be no 'body contact' between individuals beyond the holding of hands."

 Ashley Mignosa, left, and her mother said Central Cabarrus' "body contact" rule is too strict. Some parents, like Bob Johnston, think the guideline is a good idea.

"I agree with it," Johnston said. "I don't think school is the place for hugging and kissing in the hallways anyway."

Parent Cathy Craig does not think so, either.

"I think there's an appropriate place and time for that, and it's not in the schools," she said.

Many school districts across the state have some variety of guidelines regarding physical contact between students. Central Cabarrus' guideline has been in place for several years now.

Web Journalist: Kyle Almond