By: CJ Cassidy

Malden, Missouri - It isn't often you hear the phrase "sexual harassment" associated with a child, and you hardly ever hear of a child sexually harassing somebody; especially a first grader.

The parents of a Malden seven-year-old say school administrators unfairly punished their son for sexually harassing a classmate. "It certainly is, and while school leaders in Malden couldn't comment directly about their decision, they do say they're sticking to the policy that's in the student handbook."

Meanwhile, the boy's father says he's very upset about the decision.

He says his son doesn't know the meaning of the word sex, let alone sexual harassment. "One of his friends happened to be a girl was getting a drink at water fountain was bent over getting a drink and he bumped into her a few times her touched her on her bottom to get her attention," the boy's dad, Michael Harris says.

He says the school resource officer reported the incident to administrators, who in turn suspended the boy for two days.

Harris wants people to know what he thinks happened at Malden Elementary, was simply a matter of kids being kids. "I asked my son later what were you doing and he said I just wanted to talk to my friend," Harris says.

School leaders wouldn't speak about their ruling for legal reasons, but say they take "physical contact that is sexually harassing" very seriously, regardless of age. "For physical contact it's one to five days of out of school suspension along with a conference between student, school resource officer and principal," Kenneth Cook, the district Superintendent explained.

As you can imagine, the ruling was a topic of conversation in most places we went to in Malden. While some thought school leaders were simply trying to protect themselves, most people were shocked, calling the suspension over reaction.

"You punish a child for not knowing what he or she had done I don't know what to say; I'm at a loss for words," one woman said.

"Little kids poke and touch all the time they don't mean to touch them in certain places," another woman added.

Micheal Harris says what's done is done. He doesn't plan on moving his son out of school, but he would like a written apology. More importantly he wants a chance for his son to make up the class work he missed out on during those two days.

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