Allowing student sexual harassment on the school bus, or more aptly not preventing it, proved extremely costly earlier this year for the municipality of Nashville, Tenn. And, the involvement of the U.S. Department of Justice in the case could send rippling effects throughout the entire pupil transportation industry.
Peggy A. Burns reported in this month's edition of Legal Routes that the case of a 9-year-old student with autism and multiple other disabilities who was forced to perform oral sex on a 19-year-old student while riding on an unmonitored special needs bus in 2007 resulted in a $1.45 million settlement. The DOJ stepped in because federal funds were used by Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools to transport Gilberto Lopez to and from a private, non-profit educational program, and the feds have "a strong interest in ensuring that recipients of federal funds, such as defendant Metro, do not discriminated on hte basis of sex in violation of Title IX, and an interests in ensuring that federal funds are not disbursed to entities that do not comply with federal law."
Previously, Lopez's mother had asked for a one-on-one attendant per her son's IEP, but instead the boy had been placed on a regular education bus to the Genesis Learning Center, where the district typically assigned students with behavioral problems. His mother again asked for an attendant or that her son be placed on a special needs bus. The latter request was eventually approved, but Lopez was placed on a route with 19-year-old Kolby Harris, a student with a history of sexually inappropriate behavioral history. Harris' mother had even warned that younger children should not be placed on the bus with him, and she had also asked for an attendant on the bus.
The incident occurred in May 2007. The school bus driver said she thought something suspicious had happened, but the district allowed the boys to continue riding together for another week while it reviewed the video.
The settlement in monetary terms far exceeds $1.45 million, as the ruling also requires Metro to hire monitors for all special education buses. The buses must also be equipped with video cameras, and the district must submit an annual report to the DOJ detailing its compliance for at least the next four years among a host of other agreements. Plus, Harris sued the district last February alleging that the district made the sexual assault possible because they did not put an attendant on the bus.
Expensive indeed.
It goes to show that school districts have the burden of investigating all sexual assault claims. And even when they do, they can't assume the incidents are isolated. This means enhanced training is necessary for drivers and monitors alike, plus there needs to be a sharing of student information, especially what Burns called "behavioral proclivities" between school staff and the transportation department.