Claims of fondling roil elementary school

The parents of several of the girls said that the problem should have been addressed months ago. Diana Candy said she had complained about two boys inappropriately touching her daughter last October. Moore said he remembered being told that one boy was "rubbing up against the girls" and said he told the boy to "knock it off . . . he got a recess-detention kind of an infraction. I didn't hear anything after that." Candy said the boy stopped the behavior for a while, but he started again in early December.

In the meantime, she said, her daughter was called a "snitch" by one of the boys.

Several girls said that teachers recently saw boys slapping girls' buttocks and pulled the boys aside to talk to them, but the behavior continued. Moore said he had no reports that teachers had seen any incidents.

Ted Feinberg, the assistant executive director of the National Association of School Psychologists, said that "parents are important allies in combating this behavior. Involvement with police isn't necessarily storming in and yanking these kids out of their seats - it could be an opportunity to sit down and say 'what can we do to educate our children about appropriate behavior and to address the media that are giving these children the idea that this is acceptable behavior.' "

Anti-bullying programs, Feinberg said, also are an important tool. Lafayette school has none but is working on getting one, Moore said.

Feinberg added: "It's a question of setting the tone administratively and making sure teachers don't look the other way - and, most importantly, letting children know that what they see on TV is not acceptable behavior."