CLOSE Arizona Republic columnist E.J. Montini on one size fits all policies that can lead to a Kindergartener being referred for sexual misconduct after pulling his pants down on a playground. The Republic 
 
 Stack of school books and apple on desk in empty classroom. (Photo: Getty Images) Story Highlights A kindergartner was given a referral for sexual misconduct after pulling his pants down on the playground. 
 
 Experts say young children may not understand the infraction terminology. 
 
 Districts say uniform discipline policies help keep things consistent, but allow flexibility to handle individual cases. 
 
 An angry Surprise mother has raised questions about discipline appropriate for young children after a school gave her kindergarten son a sexual-misconduct referral when he pulled his pants down on the playground. 
 
 The mother said that her son is too young to understand what sexual misconduct means and that he pulled down his pants, exposing himself, not out of sexual intent but because he was intimidated by another student. 
 
 She said her son was asked to sign the referral form, which was to stay in his student record while he is a student in the Dysart Unified School District. The boy was given a one-day lunch detention, the mother said. 
 
 Dysart Assistant Superintendent Jim Dean said that administrators followed policy, which categorizes the act of pulling one's pants down as sexual misconduct, and that the boy's signature was not an admission of guilt but an acknowledgment that he had received due process. 
 
 ROBERTS: Kindergartner is a sex offender? Really? 
 
 An attorney for the boy's mother said he later worked out a confidential agreement with the district that removed the sexual-misconduct categorization from the boy's record. 
 
 Tashia Abry, assistant research professor at Arizona State University's T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics, said the incident raises serious questions. 
 
 "Is it really fair to characterize this behavior in this context, in this circumstance, as sexual misconduct?" Abry said. "That's a question worth asking and that we should be asking ourselves, because this is a child's school record, and it's not something to be taken lightly." 
 
 The question is difficult for experts to answer. 
 
 Though clearly defined codes of conduct and consequences are important, many younger children, especially kindergartners, may not understand, said Mary Anne Duggan, an assistant research professor at the School of Social and Family Dynamics. 
 
 "Children live in a very concrete world at that age," Duggan said. "I don't know how much they could understand of any of that." 
 
 A label could be detrimental to a child who still is developing a sense of self, because the child could internalize it, Duggan said. 
 
 Instead, administrators should focus on the behavior when talking with a child to help the child understand that the action was bad, but that it doesn't make the child bad. 
 
 "Kids do things, and they just need (to be) put back on the right path ... rather than adults using adult words with kids that don't even really apply," Duggan said. 
 
 School districts are required to report certain behavior infractions, as defined by state and federal standards, to the Arizona Department of Education, including indecent exposure or public sexual indecency. For indecent exposure, the standard stipulates the person is "reckless" about whether the other person present would be offended or alarmed. 
 
 There were 535 such reported incidents in the 2010-11 school year, 624 in 2011-12 and 717 in 2012-13, according to department data. But after receiving a call from a parent who said her 5-year-old was disciplined for indecent exposure, officials are concerned those numbers are overstated. 
 
 "It appears that, like the parent that called us, there could be other situations where young children were given a violation of indecent exposure, (but) when you read this definition, it's really not possible," said Jean Ajamie, Education Department director of school safety and prevention. 
 
 The department plans to analyze the data and determine whether training is necessary to educate schools on how to properly report incidents in accordance with the state and federal standards, she said. 
 
 Districts have the authority to expand a violation definition in their policies and impose discipline as they see fit, but following state standards when reporting data to the state is paramount to compiling uniform data, Ajamie said. 
 
 When it comes to discipline, Abry said, clearly defined policies help teachers and administrators enforce rules more readily because there is a prescribed course for them to follow. 
 
 "It can promote consistency and transparency," she said. 
 
 Most Valley districts have such policies. The policies have a discipline matrix that defines the various behavior-infraction categories and outlines a range of consequences. The policies vary in the number of infraction categories, specific definitions, range of consequences and how they are applied across grades. 
 
 Several districts have "sexual misconduct" or "sexual offenses" categories that include public display of affection, indecent exposure, sexual abuse and sexual conduct with a minor. Others have separate categories for specific sexual offenses. 
 
 Dysart's policy is uniform for all students to ensure that expectations are clear to parents and students and ensure a safe environment, Dean said. 
 
 "There are standards of conduct that are inappropriate on a school campus regardless of the grade level of the student," he said. "Exposing oneself is never going to be appropriate in any school situation." 
 
 Despite the uniformity, Dean said, administrators thoroughly investigate each incident and consider individual circumstances, including age, before making discipline decisions. 
 
 Depending on the district, consequences for an infraction in one of the sexual categories could range from a conference with the student to short-term suspension and up to expulsion for more serious infractions. 
 
 A range of consequences adds to the flexibility administrators have to handle each incident, said Helen Hollands, a Mesa Public Schools spokeswoman. 
 
 That flexibility is key with younger students, because they often make mistakes, said Jim Cummings, a Glendale Elementary School District spokesman. 
 
 "They're kids, and they need to learn," he said, "and when they do make mistakes, you can use those as teaching moments to teach them the difference between right and wrong, to teach them good behavior from bad behavior." 
 
 Uniform discipline policies stem from the rise of zero-tolerance policies in the 1990s, said Doug Ward, director of the public-safety leadership division at Johns Hopkins University's School of Education. 
 
 Those policies originally focused on drugs, alcohol and weapons in schools as people became more fearful of crime in the 1980s and '90s, but schools soon started including other behaviors, including bullying and sexual harassment, he said. 
 
 Child sexual-abuse scandals with organizations like the Boy Scouts of America and the Catholic Church also fueled fear and prompted the criminal-justice system to implement tougher penalties for sex crimes, Ward said. Schools, which reflect society, soon followed suit. 
 
 "People felt the need to protect children even more," Ward said. "A lot of laws were enacted, and I think schools responded with a zero tolerance of sexual crimes and activities." 
 
 Although people convicted of sexual crimes are required to register as sex offenders and often carry the societal stigma that comes with it, Ward said, students who are disciplined for sexual infractions likely will not face the same stigma, because school records are protected. 
 
 Top 10 discipline infractions statewide 
 
 School districts are required to report certain behavior infractions to the Arizona Department of Education. Here are the top 10 most commonly reported* infractions across the state during the 2010-11 through 2012-13 school years. 
 
 10. Non-sexual harassment, 6,184. 
 
 9. Endangerment, 6,225. 
 
 8. Sexual harassment, 6,719. 
 
 7. Dangerous items, 7,519. 
 
 6. Vandalism of school property, 7,623. 
 
 5. Bullying, 14,989. 
 
 4. Threat or intimidation, 18,565. 
 
 3. Drug violation, 19,391. 
 
 2. Assault, 20,302. 
 
 1. Fighting, 42,133. 
 
 *The data are self-reported based on local school policies and procedures, and the Arizona Department of Education does not have a validation strategy in place to ensure accuracy, so the data only give an idea of what is happening at a state level. 
 
 Source: Arizona Department of Education 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://azc.cc/1rUo5rY ||||| SURPRISE, Ariz. (CBS Las Vegas) – A mother is upset after her 5-year-old son received detention for what his school is calling “sexual misconduct.” 
 
 Eric Lopez, a kindergartner at Ashton Ranch Elementary School, pulled his pants down on the playground this past spring. The child received detention and has a note within his permanent file at the school. At the time of the incident, his mother wasn’t notified nor did school officials inform her that her son signed a note in the assistant principal’s office. 
 
 “He did not know that he could ask for me,” Eric’s mother, Erica Martinez, told KTVK. “He’s 5.” 
 
 Dysart Unified School District has a policy that states a parent does not have to be present for a disciplinary meeting unless the student requests his or her parent. 
 
 For the past two months, Martinez has been fighting to have the sexual misconduct label removed from her son’s file citing that her son’s actions were not sexual in any way. But the district has denied her appeal and the assistant superintendent is defending the school’s actions. 
 
 “Our school district uses consistent language for disciplinary infractions in order to provide clarity and track discipline data accurately,” assistant superintendent Jim Dean said in a written statement to KTVK. 
 
 He explained that the district must follow the state and federal guidelines and definitions that are set to define a sexual offense. 
 
 AZ SAFE is an initiative sponsored by the state which helps districts collect information and clarify it. The state recommends that each district take into account the age and maturity of a student before placing their actions in the sexual offense category. 
 
 The mother does not think that her son’s age was taken into account when the Dysart Unified School District labeled his “depantsing.” 
 
 But Dean shared that the district does not focus on labels when they discipline students. 
 
 “Even though the discipline labels are consistently used and the discipline form is consistent from grades K-12 to ensure all legal mandates are met, the discussion the administrator has about a situation and consequences are age appropriate,” Dean said to KTVK. “The discussion with a kindergarten student is focused on the specific action, not on the label that is used for classifying the infraction.”
– An Arizona mom wants answers as to why her 5-year-old kindergartner now has a "sexual misconduct" stamp on his permanent school file. Erica Martinez says her son, Eric Lopez, pulled down his pants and exposed himself when another student at Ashton Ranch Elementary School "intimidated" him on the playground. The superintendent of the Dysart Unified School District says administrators labelled the event as "sexual misconduct" per school policy, but Martinez argues her son doesn't even know what that means and his actions were far from sexual, the Arizona Republic reports. Eric was asked to sign a "sexual misconduct" referral without Martinez present, CBS News previously reported—though school officials say the signature only indicates he received due process. Eric spent a lunch period in detention, but the referral will stay in his school record while he remains in the district. "This is a child's school record, and it's not something to be taken lightly," an expert notes. Labels like "sexual misconduct," another adds, could hurt a child this age if they're internalized. Kids need to be "put back on the right path ... rather than adults using adult words with kids that don't even really apply," that expert says, but the school says it's just following state guidelines for defining certain types of misbehavior. The status of Lopez's case is unclear—CBS reported last month that his mother's appeal to have the mark removed from his file was denied, but the Republic says she has not yet formally appealed.