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OVIEDO, Fla. — An eighth-grader in Florida saw a friend who was having a bad day and gave him a comforting hug.

Ella Fishbrough, 14, says it was just for a second, but her school principal slapped her with detention and a permanent black mark on her school record.

Ella attends Jackson Heights Middle School in Oviedo and she begins her detention Friday morning.

Principal Sarah Mansur-Blythe says Ella violated the school’s zero-tolerance policy against public displays of affection.

Ella’s mother says she asked the principal whether she’d get in trouble for consoling her own cousin the same way; the principal said yes.

The school’s legal department says it will review its student manual to determine whether such a restrict policy is truly necessary.