KY: Police department investigates alleged sexual abuse on a school bus

Posted: 4:20 PM Nov 19, 2009

http://www.wkyt.com/wymtnews/headlines/70542592.html

Two children are accused of sexually abusing another child on a school bus.

The alleged incident happened on a Clay County school bus a few weeks ago. Police say it happened during a trip to Hacker Elementary School.

The victim's mother is outraged. She says the bus ride for her child is only three miles, and during that time, her child should be safe.

"You think from the time that your child leaves your house, and they go to school, the person that is in charge of them should be able to keep them safe," the victim's mother said.

But a few weeks ago, this mother's five year-old child told her that they were sexually abused on the bus ride to school.

"I was shocked, I was angry, I wanted something done immediately," the victim's mother said.

The mother quickly informed the school and police. Manchester Police investigated and filed formal charges against the two children, ages 10 and 11.

One faces sexual abuse, indecent exposure, and terroristic threatening charges. The other faces one charge of harassment.

"Due to the ages of the students that are allegedly involved, our department will not comment on any details of the investigation at this time," Manchester Police Chief Jeff Culver said.

Chief Culver says the department does everything it can to prevent incidents like this from happening, but there are other ways to watch children.

"Every bus should have monitors, and some may need more than one monitor. Each complaint should be looked at more thoroughly," Culver said.

The victim's mother says she had to pull her child out of school because the child did not feel safe anymore.

"I gotta get my child back. Got to get my child back," the victim's mother said.

The mother says it may be a long time before her child feels safe again in a group setting.

The accused children are still at school. They will face their charges in juvenile court in the coming months.

The Clay County Schools superintendent was unavailable for comment.

TX: BISD sued in case of boy left on bus for hours

By KEN FOUNTAIN

November 15, 2009
Posted: November 14, 2009, 11:55 AM CST

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/local/bisd_sued_in_case_of_boy_left_on_bus_for_hours.html

The grandmother of a 4-year-old boy who was left alone on a Beaumont ISD bus for several hours in January has filed suit against the school district.

Sharon Hill, a disabled woman who raises her three grandchildren, put preschooler Derrick W. Zachery on the bus early to take him to Southerland School on the morning of Jan. 13.

When the bus arrived at Southerland School, he was overlooked and the bus returned to the district's Transportation Center on Milam Street, the lawsuit filed Thursday in Jefferson County court. Again, he was overlooked.

No one at the school contacted Hill to tell her that her grandson had not arrived at school, the lawsuit states.

Shortly after the incident, Hill told The Enterprise that her grandson had been "very afraid."

The case is assigned to the 58th District Court of Judge Bob Wortham.

FL: 3-Year Old Special Needs Child Left On Bus For 6 Hours

November 5, 2009

See news video: http://www.wftv.com/countybycounty/21534680/detail.html

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Florida -- In Osceola County, a school bus driver and bus monitor were arrested for abandoning a 3-year-old child on a bus for six hours. The mistake on the Osceola County school bus could have cost the boy his life.

Osceola County sheriff's investigators say bus driver Benjamin Gonzalez and his attendant, Carmen Pacheco, made their morning drop off at Sunrise Elementary School Tuesday morning, but they overlooked one special needs child who was still strapped into his car seat.

“They put that child in a dangerous situation,” Twis Lizasuain of the Osceola County Sheriff's office said.

The child sat on the bus in the parking lot of Horizon Middle School for six hours.

“The child seemed to be in good health, but to be on the safe side school officials had encouraged the mother to take the child to the hospital,” Lizasuain explained.

The Osceola County School District suspended Gonzalez and Pacheco without pay Tuesday. They were arrested Thursday and charged with child neglect.

“It clearly was not done intentionally, but the law states if a child is in your custody they have certain responsibilities and obligations,” Lizasuain explained.

The Osceola County School District says there is a strict protocol for sweeping the bus before and after students are suppose to be on it.

MA: No charges in alleged Mashpee bus abuse

By Jake Berry

STAFF WRITER

April 14, 2009

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090414/NEWS11/90414017/-1/rss01

MASHPEE - The Mashpee police department has elected not to pursue charges in the case of alleged child abuse by a local bus monitor, police chief Rodney Collins announced this afternoon.

Last week a Mashpee woman, the parent of an 8-year-old autistic child, reported to police that her daughter had been assaulted April 6 on a Cape Cod Collaborative bus on the ride home from school.

After reviewing the bus security tape, however, investigators determined that there are no grounds for criminal charges.

The video tape, played by police this afternoon at a press conference, showed that the monitor punished the child for spitting by forcibly taking a card from the child’s hand and pulling a sweatshirt hood over the child’s head.

“This is all much ado about nothing,” Collins said after showing the tape. “There was no slapping. There was no punching. There was no level of force used that was being described in the initial allegations.”

The child has a recorded habit of spitting and the mother had previously agreed to this form of punishment in the child’s behavior plan, Collins said.

But the mother disagrees, saying that she never agreed to any plan that allowed the bus monitor to make contact with her child.

“That is 100 percent false,” the mother said today of the reports that she had agreed to the punishment. “(The monitor) was supposed to ignore her for one week. Never in a million years would I say it’s OK for them to touch my child.”

The child has returned to school and continues to take the bus with a different bus driver, her mother said.

NC: Teen charged with committing sex offenses on bus with girl, 7

NOTE: Our office was previously notified that there was a single bus in this District that would pick up muli-aged children with a variety of disabilities and drop the children off at their respective schools. It was also reported that some of these children were on this bus for close to two hours one way, to and from school, every day. We do not know if this is the same bus that was reported to us, but are trying to confirm. Regardless, our hearts go out to the little girl and her family, to the 18 year old boy and his family, and to all the families with children who were transported on this bus...

Published: Thursday, April 9, 2009 at 4:53 p.m. 
Last Modified: Thursday, April 9, 2009 at 4:53 p.m.

http://www.the-dispatch.com/article/20090409/ARTICLES/904099990#

A Thomasville teenager has been charged with committing sex offenses with a 7-year-old girl on a school bus.

Bradley Thomas Everhart, 18, of 615 Russell St., was charged with five counts of felony first-degree sex offense with a child and three counts of felony taking indecent liberties with a child. He is being held in the Davidson County Detention Center under a $250,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in Lexington District Court on May 18.

Detectives with the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office received a report Thursday morning regarding a sexual assault of a 7-year-old girl by an 18-year-old male. The incidents occurred while the male and female were riding on a Davidson County school bus together, according to a press release.

Detectives investigated and found the acts happened between March 1 and Thursday. Everhart was arrested without incident Thursday afternoon.

PA: Child Left on School Bus

Note: The school district says that bus drivers are not school employees, and takes the position it's the bus company's responsibility to deal with its employees. Seems like the district is trying to deny it has the ultimate responsibility for the safety of children in their district while those children are in the care of the district - including while those children are riding a school bus, contracted or otherwise...

Posted: Jan 23, 2009 07:30 PM
Last Updated: Jan 23, 2009 10:15 PM
By Kurt Aaron

http://www.wnep.com/Global/story.asp?S=9725127

A school bus driver in Northumberland County was suspended for one day after a child was left behind on a school bus.

Parents of the six-year-old boy said the incident happened Wednesday morning. They said their son was left alone for two hours on a bus used by the Mount Carmel Area School District.

"What's a six-year-old thinking, being left there all alone," said the boy's father, Ron Price. "My God, no one is there to stick up for him or help him or anything. It's just horrible. I just thank God nothing happened. Maybe the next kid won't be so lucky."

The boy apparently never got off the bus when it stopped at his school. He ended up three miles away where the buses are parked. Ron Price said his son was left alone for two hours before anyone noticed him.

"They said they seen a little boy wandering around in the parking lot," Price said. "He told me he learned how to open the door by watching the school bus driver do it. So, he got out and was roaming around."

What upset the child's mother and father so much is that there is a busy highway near where the buses are parked. There's also a stream right behind the buses.

Bob Heraty has been a school bus driver for 37 years. He said all the buses used in the Mount Carmel Area School District have a security feature for situations like this. When the bus is shut off, the driver has 40 seconds to walk to the back of the bus and press a special button or pull a special lever. This safety feature is intended to ensure that the driver walks to the back of the bus to make sure that no kids are left on board.

It's not clear why the driver on Wednesday did not notice the six-year-old boy left on the bus.

The school district says the bus drivers are not school employees, and it's the bus company's responsibility to deal with its employees.

OH: Boy hospitalized after being struck by Cleveland school bus

Posted by Stan Donaldson/Plain Dealer Reporter
January 13, 2009 17:56PM
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/01/boy_hospitalized_after_being_s.html

Taylor Price liked to ride his bike to school, even on cold winter mornings in Cleveland.
But on Tuesday, the 14-year-old James Ford Rhodes High School student's ride ended with him in the hospital after police said a school bus driver struck him in a hit-skip accident.

Cleveland police arrested school district driver Cheryl Hill, 49, several hours after the 6:30 a.m. accident on suspicion of leaving the scene. Hill, of Cleveland, who has worked for the district since 1989, was placed on paid leave.

Police Lt. Thomas Stacho said the boy was hit on Fulton Road near Interstate 71 as he made his way to school. Taylor was in critical condition Tuesday night at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland.

The boy's stepfather, Eric Banks, said that Taylor broke both his legs and suffered a punctured lung, broken collarbone and other injuries. He said the boy is unconscious.

"I know stuff happens, but she could have at least stopped, got out and checked thoroughly to make sure she did not hit anyone," Banks said.

Stacho said a witness came into the 2nd District station at 6:45 a.m. and told police a boy was lying in the street. The witness, a woman, left the station without being questioned but told police a yellow bus had left the area.

Stacho said police went to the scene and did not see the boy but were notified that the teen had been taken to the hospital by an emergency medical crew. Police asked for help from school officials, who later that day reported that one of their drivers had probably hit the boy.

Stacho said Hill told police she thought she hit a pothole. Later during her route, the bus driver and a parent saw the bike hanging from the bus.

Banks said a man knocked on the door of the family's West 44th Street home and told him and Taylor's mother that the youth had been hit by a bus.

He said the man took Taylor's mother to the hospital.

"It was very nice of the man to do that for us today," Banks said. "We still really don't know what happened."

Stacho said the accident is under investigation and said police are asking anyone with information to contact Cleveland police.

NY: Kids being left on school buses not unique to NYC

By JENNIFER PELTZ
January 6, 2009

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jy_FSP-f7uJ_35kYR6inrDJw1BHQD95HT1K00

NEW YORK (AP) — Profoundly disabled Edwin Rivera was left alone on a school bus in the bitter cold of New Year's Eve and wasn't found until 17 hours later, curled up but still alive.

But experts say such cases are not uncommon, with up to 75 school bus strandings every year nationwide.

A 4-year-old Milwaukee boy was left on a bus for hours on a 25-degree day in December 2007, and a girl the same age was left in nearly 100-degree heat last June in Columbia, S.C. Three South Bend, Ind., students have been left on buses in separate incidents this school year. One 4-year-old girl with special needs was left behind — twice in 10 months — in Newington, Conn.

Some schools have revamped procedures and equipped buses with alarms and cameras. Legislation, prosecutions and lawsuits have been aimed at the problem.

"You'd think that now we've got it to the point where everybody understands how important this is," yet incidents continue, said New Jersey state Sen. Fred Madden, an architect of a 2007 state law that requires at least a six-month license suspension for drivers who leave students on school buses.

"I almost thought, when I wrote the bill, that I was legislating common sense," the Democrat lawmaker said.

The issue has drawn more attention since Rivera's ordeal. A bus matron is accused of knowingly abandoning him because she had to get to a New Year's Eve appointment, leaving him strapped into his seat as the temperature fell to 15 degrees.

The 6-foot-2 Rivera, who has cerebral palsy and attends a private special-needs school, is unable to communicate verbally. The 22-year-old man was discharged from a hospital Monday.

School transportation organizations say there are no official statistics on how many students get stranded on buses, although it is a small percentage of the 26 million children nationwide who ride buses each day.

Mike Martin, executive director of the Albany-based National Association for Pupil Transportation, estimates he hears of as many as 75 incidents annually.

School transportation experts say traffic and other distractions can make it harder than it appears to ensure that no child is left behind, but Martin says he has yet to hear "a truly legitimate excuse."

Bus workers are often suspended or fired over the incidents. Some face prosecution, including a driver and matron who have pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor child endangerment charges after a 3-year-old autistic boy languished on a bus in the Bronx for six hours in October. They have been barred from future bus work for city schools, Chancellor Joel Klein has said.

Criminal charges sometimes prove hard to pursue. A grand jury in Rolling Fork, Miss., declined to indict an escort in the death of a 19-month-old left in a sweltering van for at least six hours at a day care center in July 2007. A judge dismissed a 2005 child abuse charge against a substitute driver after a disabled first-grader was left in a van for seven hours in Kearney, Neb.

The Kearney boy's family settled a lawsuit against the school district for $10,000; the Mississippi toddler's parents also have sued.

Many school systems crack down themselves. After a handful of incidents from 2003 to 2007, Lafayette Parish, La., instituted a mandatory, 20-day unpaid suspension for drivers after a first stranding and firing after a second. Suspension has been used at least once, transportation director Bill Samec said.

Public schools in Newington, Conn. — where the same girl was briefly stranded twice — have since spent about $12,000 installing alarms designed to spur drivers to check their buses for lingering children, transportation manager Alan Avery said.

Other measures include having drivers state for the record in front of video cameras that their buses are clear.

"We have done everything we can," said Avery, who oversees the transportation of about 3,750 students.

School transportation officials say all the techniques and technology ultimately depend on bus drivers and matrons doing their jobs, which can involve keeping count of dozens of children and hunting for a snoozing small fry who might have slipped between seats.

"Looking for a child on a bus, on the surface, seems to be a very simple task that, underneath the surface, is much more difficult that what we realize," said Kathleen Furneaux, executive director of the Syracuse-based Pupil Transportation Safety Institute.

In Rivera's case, however, prosecutors say bus matron Linda Hockaday knew he was asleep on the bus when she got off, but didn't tell the driver because she didn't want to double back to Rivera's home.

A lawyer for Hockaday, 51, who has been fired and charged with reckless endangerment, has suggested the driver should bear some of the blame. Hockaday has not entered a plea. The driver has not been charged.

NY: Mentally disabled young man spends night in freezing school bus after driver forgets him

Thursday, January 1st 2009, 2:00 PM
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/01/01/2009-01-01_mentally_disabled_young_man_spends_night.html

A mentally retarded young man spent a frigid night alone on a school bus after his driver forgot about him and parked the bus at the depot, police sources said.

The 22-year-old young man was supposed to be dropped off at his parents Manhattan home Wednesday afternoon, after having spent the day at a Manhattan program for the disable, police sources said.

But he never got off the bus. His mother notified police at about 9 p.m. New Year's Eve that her son had never arrived.

Officers and his parents went to the Brooklyn bus depot this morning and found the young man curled up on a seat inside his school bus.

The young man, who has trouble speaking, was alert, but suffering from hypothermia after spending more than 12 hours on the freezing bus.

TN: School System No Closer To Bus Camera Decision

Board Scraps Camera Bids; Plans For GPS, Third Camera

By Reported By Deanna Lambert

WSMV-TV

updated 2 hours, 2 minutes agohttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28285623/

Extra eyes on school buses is just what Rutherford County needs after a year plagued with allegations of sexual assault and abuse on buses.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Rutherford County has taken a step backward in its plans to outfit every school bus with security cameras, but that might actually be a good thing.

"That's the great thing about cameras," said James Evans of Rutherford County schools. "On the front end, they're a deterrent because, you know, students know they're being filmed. The bus driver does as well. But also, they really aid us when we have to look into an alleged incident."

Last week, school board members scrapped all previous bids to install cameras but upgraded their plan to add a GPS, along with a third camera, to 120 buses currently without any recording device.

From the driver's view, he or she can't see a small child in the middle of the bus. An additional camera lens would help capture all angles of activity.

"We think that the cameras are a good way to have some documentation of what happened on a bus. And that's why we’re looking to do it on all of our buses," Evans said. "They can look at the tape and say, 'It happened at this time,' and by using that information, they can determine where the bus was located on its route, how fast it was going. Was it moving? Was it stopped?"

The GPS would also be used to document and investigate travel records.

Richard Smith, from Mid South Bus Center, said that unlike a GPS in a personal vehicle, the bus GPS would log where the bus has been as opposed to where it is going.

There are currently only 50 buses in Rutherford County with cameras.

The board wants to spend between $200,000 and $400,000 for the upgrades. It plans to use reserves to pay for the cameras, but it seems to be a security upgrade that is long overdue.

The school board hopes to receive and approve bids after the first of the year. The county will then have to approve funding.

Cameras could be installed by spring.

Extra eyes on school buses is just what Rutherford County needs after a year plagued with allegations of sexual assault and abuse on buses.

TN: Bus Driver Pleads Guilty To Sex With Students

Author's Note: Why is it that when women sexually abuse boys, they aren't really punished? 

Charges State She Provided Boys With Alcohol

WSMV-TV

updated 3:48 p.m. ET, Tues., Dec. 16, 2008http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28243493/

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A school bus driver has pleaded guilty to having sexual encounters with two students.

Warren County driver Melissa Arnold was arrested in September on charges of statutory rape and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

According to court papers, she had encounters with a 17-year-old and 15-year-old last winter.

The charges state that she provided the boys with alcohol and helped the youngest boy skip school.

Arnold will serve 90 days in jail.

TX: Plano ISD Mom Charges Bus Driver with Abuse

By MATTHEW HAAG / The Dallas Morning News
mhaag@dallasnews.com
09:48 PM CST on Wednesday, December 3, 2008
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/city/collin/plano/stories/120408dnmetplanobus.3966c5b.html

A Plano ISD parent says the school district retaliated against her son after she accused a school bus driver of spanking and choking him.

Last week, Jennifer Khonsari told school district officials that she planned to release school bus video footage to the media that showed a bus driver hitting her seventh-grade son, Kaleb. Later that day, officials at Kaleb's school suspended him for making an unrelated threat.

"I think they were doing it to get back at me," said Ms. Khonsari, adding that her son had never been suspended from school. "My son swears it was totally fabricated, and I believe him."

Plano ISD declined to comment about Ms. Khonsari's accusation.

"The district is involved in an ongoing investigation and will not comment on allegations related to this matter," district spokeswoman Nancy Long wrote in an e-mail. "The district will not discuss discipline matters related to a specific student."

Ms. Khonsari's accusation stems from two instances in early November in which a school bus driver grabbed Kaleb, spanked him and choked him on a Plano ISD bus, according to security camera footage filmed onboard the bus. Plano ISD declined to release the bus driver's name. But Ms. Khonsari identified the driver as Gail Atkins.

When reached by telephone, Ms. Atkins said, "I'm not interested in anything you have to ask or say." She then hung up.

In the video recorded on the bus security camera, Kaleb, 13, is seen leaning around his front-row seat and yelling to students in the back of bus.

"Quit yelling across my bus," the driver tells Kaleb.

Kaleb then stands up from his seat, laughs and continues to talk to people in the back. The driver turns around again and raises her voice.

"Quit it. Sit down," she says.

She then grabs Kaleb, pulls him over her lap and spanks him. He laughs, and she pushes him back to his seat.

A few seconds later, he stands up again. She walks toward his seat, grabs him and pushes him into his seat, according to the video.

Ms. Khonsari said that her son has ADHD and tends to be rambunctious. But that doesn't excuse the bus driver for hitting Kaleb, she said.

"Do I think he provoked her? Yeah," she said. "But that doesn't give her the right to touch a child."

Plano ISD placed the bus driver on paid leave Nov. 12, pending an investigation, Ms. Long said.

"Plano ISD takes all allegations very seriously," she said.

Ms. Khonsari said she hopes the bus driver doesn't return to work. She said the bus driver and Kaleb had clashed since the school year started. At one point, the driver forced him to sit in an assigned seat behind her, Ms. Khonsari said.

"I don't want her to come back," she said. "He doesn't want to see the bus driver anymore."