ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A father is outraged over the way his special needs daughter was treated on her school bus.
The girl is a 6-year-old student at Palencia Elementary School. The employees involved in the mistreatment have been disciplined by the district.
Three letters of reprimand stated these adults mistreated the little girl both verbally and physically.
Chris Kain said he spent weeks pushing for the St. Johns County school district to release the videos recorded on his daughter’s bus after he learned she had a bad day on the bus and he’s not happy with what he found.
“It’s horrifying because my daughter never told us any of this,” Kain said. “We knew there had to be something on there and we had no idea that it was this bad. They’re restraining these kids for little or no reason and they’re the most vulnerable kids.”
Kain obtained a few videos and he’s working to get more. For instance, in one of the videos his daughter, who has special needs is being disciplined by a bus worker who restrains her by grabbing her arms and holding them over the seat for an extended period of time. Then another bus worker apparently helps.
“They need to understand that she’s emotionally disabled and they need to talk to her, and talk her through,” Kain explained.
Then in another video it’s more about verbal abuse. First it appears the bus driver agrees to fight back with the little girl by words: ‘‘You pinching me? You want me to pinch you back? I will.”
Then there’s a little boy across the aisle and Kain believes the driver pushed him off camera but that’s impossible to tell because it’s off screen.
Since the videos were released, all three employees have received letters of reprimand from the district.
After viewing the videos, News4Jax Crime and Safety Analyst Gil Smith said holding the arms appears overboard, but the verbal warnings don’t.
“He didn’t use any profanity, he wasn’t yelling. Sometimes talking in a normal tone of voice kids will take advantage of that, and continue to act out even worse,” Smith. “So in my opinion, what he said to them wasn’t necessarily overboard.”
As far as disciplinary action, two of the employees were removed from the Palencia bus route. One was suspended for two days without pay, the other individual was suspended for five days without pay.
The bus driver stayed on the route, but was warned and all three have to attend courses with the employee assistance program to help them handle situations better.