Some elementary school teachers are giving their students high fives in lieu of hugs.

When they see kids start to hug one another, they instruct them to do a high five instead.

Now a high five is fine, but it's not the same thing as a hug. High fives are for teammates who have just hit a home run; hugs are for kids with scraped knees or problems at home.

But what else are you going to do? There's no global warming in our schools. There's mostly fear.

Unless you've been unconscious for a year or two, you've noticed the steady line of legal cases involving teachers having sex with their students. Hugs are just one of the victims.

It's become such a common occurrence that we barely wince anymore when another case comes to light. So far in 2009, the following cases hit the news in Utah:

A former teacher's aide at West Jordan Middle School was charged with having sexual relations with 15- and 16-year-old students.

A former teacher and coach in Moab entered an "Alford plea" this fall on charges of having sex with a 14-year-old student. The teen committed suicide.

A teacher/coach at Pine View High in St. George was charged with sexual abuse of a child.

The principal of the Lone Peak High seminary program was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old student.

A Roy Junior High shop teacher was charged with having sex with a student. The charges followed two investigations by police of a Layton High choir teacher who had married a recently graduated student and an Ogden High teacher who was living with a former student.

A special-education teacher at Helper Junior High was charged for having sex with a 15-year-old student. A second teacher had already been placed on administrative leave during an investigation into possible inappropriate relations with a student.

A Bountiful Junior High teacher, a married mother of three, was sentenced to prison for having sex with a 13-year-old student. Based on information she provided, a math teacher at Bountiful Junior High was charged with having sex with the same student.

A substitute teacher in Granite School District was sentenced to three months probation for fondling a 13-year-old girl in his car.

A popular teacher and coach in Fillmore was sentenced to prison for having sex with one of his high school students.

A Dixie High teacher was charged with sexual abuse of a 7-year-old girl. He was already awaiting trial on sexual battery charges related to classroom behavior.