Boys will be boys — the old saying goes.

Boys will certainly be boys in elementary school, when teasing and fleeing “cooties” during recess are common and usually entertaining.

But what happens when school-yard games turn into a boy grabbing the crotch and breasts of a 10-year-old girl? What happens when children’s teasing turns into threats of sex and simulated sex acts?

If you’re a student at Hubbard Elementary School in Monroe County, Ga., nothing happens.

LaShonda Davis, now a 16-year-old junior in high school, was in fifth grade when a classmate groped and threatened her during a six-month period. She told her mother, who told school officials, but nothing was done for LaShonda.

LaShonda and her mother sued the school board, and the case is now before the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court Justices, in hearing the arguments Tuesday, saw the lawsuit more as a case of defining harassment among children than of holding administrators accountable for their actions.

“Little boys tease little girls,” Justice Sandra Day O’Conner said. “Is every one of these incidents going to lead to a lawsuit?”

Justice O’Conner is right. Little boys do tease little girls, and little girls tease back.

“How does the school define … the harassment, as distinguished from teasing?” asked Justice David Souter.

The difference should be apparent to the high Court. Pulling pigtails is teasing; grabbing breasts is not.

Davis’ lawsuit does not demand schools prevent incidents such as this one. It does not hold Hubbard Elementary School responsible for the harassment.

But it does require that administrators do something about a harassment problem when they find out about it.

When Davis’ mother went to LaShonda’s teacher and principal to tell then about the harassment, they did nothing. They didn’t even do something as simple as separating the students, who sat next to each other during class.

A school classroom is a place where students should be able to feel safe from any sort of harassment. It is the duty of school administrators to ensure that students feel safe and to respond when students say that they don’t.

Boys may be boys, but school administrators must be responsible adults when it comes to their students.