6-year-old: 'Mommy, are police going to arrest me?'

A Brockton first-grader was suspended from school for three days last month after school officials said that he sexually harassed a girl in his class. NewsCenter 5's Jim Boyd reported Tuesday that officials at the Downey Elementary School called the boy's mother, Berthena Dorinvil, on Jan. 30, and asked her to pick up her child from the school. Dorinvil said that officials told her that her son was being suspended for sexually harassing a 6-year-old female classmate. "My son told me that the girl touched him first, so he touched her back," Dorinvil said. "I was shocked. I was crying. I was out of control," Dorinvil said.

School officials would not speak on camera, and police officers were posted at the school Tuesday afternoon. The school superintendent released a statement that said "The safety and well-being of Brockton public school students and staff is of the utmost important to us, and we take all allegations of sexual harassment seriously." Dorinvil has asked school officials to transfer her son to another school, but officials have not agreed to her request. "When he comes home, he says, 'Mommy, are police going to arrest me?' I can't even make a phone call without him (asking) who I am speaking to. He is very frustrated because he is a very emotional kid. It bothers me so much to see my son go through this," Dorinvil said.

source: 'First-Grader Suspended For Sexual Harassment - Boy's Mother Outraged At School Officials'; www.thebostonchannel.com/news/6819062/detail.html?subid=22100410&qs=1;bp=t; TheBostonChannel.com; 7 February 2006