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While standing in line for the bus in January 2013, a 5-year-old girl told two friends that she was going to shoot bubbles at them from her Hello Kitty bubble gun, then go home and shoot herself with bubbles as well.

Their conversation was overheard and reported to the Mount Carmel Area Elementary School in Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, which initially decided to suspend Madison for 10 days for making a “terroristic threat,” and ordered that she undergo a psychological evaluation. It was then dropped to a two-day suspension and reclassified as a “threat to harm others.” The counselor who evaluated the kindergartener said Madison was a “typical 5-year-old in temperament and interest.”

The girl’s mother, Kelly Guarna, a former police officer, retained an attorney and demanded the girl’s record be expunged and policy changes made. After an undisclosed agreement with the district, Guarna says she was pleased with the outcome. But she says will lobby for changes to be made to Pennsylvania law.

“It’s horrible what they’re doing to these kids,” she told the Associated Press. “They’re treating them as mini-adults, making them grow up too fast, and robbing them of their imaginations.”

Read more:

Associated Press: “Kids’ suspensions renew debate over zero tolerance”

The News-Item: “Girl in Mount Carmel bubble gun case to go back to school”