BRIDGEWATER -- A judge has reversed a school board's decision in Somerset County that determined a 7-year-old girl bullied another girl who had a speech impediment.

Administrative law Judge Joseph Ascione ruled last month that the school bus incident involving Crim School students in Bridgewater be removed from the school record of the 7-year-old, only identified as A.L. in the court documents.

The incident occurred March 4, 2015, when the school's principal, Margaret Kerr, was told of four girls making fun of another girl with a speech problem, identified as E.D., on the way home from school.

E.D.'s father had sent an email to Kerr saying his daughter had come home crying for about a month because girls on the bus were "being very mean to her," according to the court documents.

Jacquelyn Spagnolo, the school's anti-bullying specialist, interviewed E.D. and identified A.L. as one of the girls involved.

A.L. told Spagnolo "Like [E.D.] has a speech problem and the girls were making fun of her and since they were doing it and I was bored, I did it also, I made fun of her speech," according to court records.

Spagnolo recommended in a report to Kerr that A.L. be verbally reprimanded, her parents be notified and bus seating changed.

The school ruled the incident was an act of bullying and sent the report to Superintendent Victor Hayek, which was then affirmed by the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education.

A.L.'s father then appealed the decision, saying his daughter's actions did not amount to bullying and claimed the school violated the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act by not adhering to the timeline established by the statute.

The judge reversed the ruling on Oct. 28 and ordered any reference to the alleged bullying be removed from A.L.'s record.

Ascione wrote in the court documents that he could not rule whether or not the incident involved bullying because the district's "violations of procedure makes determination of that issue moot."

The judge described the allegations as "serious" and told A.L.'s parents, they "should discuss the consequences to the mental well-being of a student suffering from a disability, and the cruelty of those who fail to contemplate how one's words can harm."

Craig McCarthy may be reached at CMcCarthy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @createcraig and on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook.