Dec 14, 2007 6:53 pm US/Eastern
Alleged Hollywood School Bus Abuse Goes Unreported
HOLLYWOOD (CBS4) ―
Two separate incidents of alleged school bus abuse went unreported in Hollywood, leading to the suspension of five Broward County Public Schools bus employees.
September 26 was the date of the first alleged incident, but it wasn't until Thursday of this week that the incident was reported. A bus driver was taking special education students from the Quest Center to their homes when he allegedly lost his cool with rowdy children.
"An elderly bus driver was whacking the back of the seat with a Billy club and pokes a kid," said spokesman for Broward Schools Keith Bromery.
The incident was reported to school transportation officials who informed the school district's special investigations unit, but no one told administrators or reported the incident to the Department of Children and Families as the law requires.
"There is no way this is a cover-up," said Bromery. "The reports were all generated. The only thing was to go and report the suspected child abuse cases to the proper agency."
The second incident occurred only a couple of weeks after the first one, with a bus driver transporting kids from New River Middle School on October 2nd. In this particular case two boys allegedly molested a girl in view of the bus driver, but he did nothing to stop it.
The second incident was not reported to DCF either.
Bromery told CBS4's Stephen Stock that all employees in the district need to understand that such suspected cases all need to be reported.
While the investigation continues, five transportation employees have been suspended from their jobs: A transportation supervisor, the two bus drivers, and two bus monitors (assistants to drivers).
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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