Updated with video: Special-needs bus monitor reported by victim's mother before
After a mother found bruises on her 4-year-old son's arm and thigh last week, a surveillance video confirmed her suspicions -- the special-needs student had been repeatedly struck by his bus monitor on the way to Bluffton Elementary School, according to police.
Monitor Lillian Jackson, a Durham School Services employee, was charged Tuesday with unlawful conduct toward a child. The 61-year-old from Seabrook is on leave as Durham, the company contracted for the district's bus services, conducts its own investigation, according to company spokeswoman Molly Hart.
"Durham School Services' top priority is the safety of the students we transport. As such, our bus drivers and monitors receive training in how to work with students with disabilities," Hart said Thursday. "We are taking this matter very seriously."
Some parents say the alleged assault is not as an isolated incident.
Rather, they say, incidents of violence against special needs students are likely to continue as long as bus drivers and monitors aren't properly trained by Durham.
"Did I (ask that) my son hit or scratched or bit? No. Nobody wishes for that. Unfortunately that's the scenario we're in with our family," said Ken Middendorf, whose severely autistic 11-year-old son sometimes acts out. "(Staff are) supposed to have the training to deal with these situations."
Mandie Lee, another parent of a special needs student, wrote in a comment on The Island Packet web site that she no longer allows her son to ride the bus to school.
"Something needs to be done because the problems are only going to continue and are clearly escalating," Lee wrote.
EARLIER INCIDENT
Bluffton police Lt. Donald Chandler declined to release video of the Feb. 12 incident, saying Thursday police were still reviewing it.
The written report states Jackson can be seen taking the victim's hand and using it to strike him in the face.
Shortly afterward, she strikes him in the face with her closed fist, and later grabs his leg several times, bruising his thigh, according to the report.
At her Seabrook home on Tuesday, Jackson told investigators she did not know what incident they were referring to and offered no explanation about what happened on the bus. She was freed from the Beaufort County Detention Center on Wednesday after posting a $3,000 bond.
Reached Thursday afternoon, Jackson declined comment.
Chandler said no other charges are pending against Jackson, and no other parents have come forward with allegations of abuse. Jackson began working for Durham in September 2013.
However, a report on the Feb. 12 incident says she had placed her hands on the same student in the past.
Kenyatta Frederick, assistant principal at Bluffton Elementary School, told police in September that the student's mother alleged Jackson forced the child to cover his mouth when he coughed, bruising his wrists in the process, the report said.
Durham and the district reviewed video of that incident but did not take disciplinary action or notify law enforcement, Frederick told police in the report.
In October, the district handled another complaint regarding behavior on a special needs bus.
Middendorf's wife, Miriam, told police she saw a bus driver strike their son as he was getting off a bus from Hilton Head Island Middle School. Police determined the driver acted in self defense after the child, who cannot communicate verbally, reached toward her and she raised her arms to block or push him away.
Ken Middendorf said Thursday his family has been driving their son to and from school since the October incident because they don't believe he's safe on the bus. He acknowledges his son is strong and is known to lash out, but said he was frustrated by the driver's reaction.
He wants Durham to better train staff so drivers and aides know how to restrain or communicate with students. For Middendorf's son, that may mean grabbing his hands or wrapping him in a bear hug.
"You never strike a child," the 35 year old said. "I never have, even though he's hit us pretty good before," he said. "That's how he's trying to communicate there may be something wrong."
'VERY SERIOUS CHARGES'
All Durham employees who work with special needs students are trained on the types of special needs students, lifts and mobility devices, emergency evacuations, transportation challenges and legislation, according to their website.
The company also holds monthly safety meetings and gave employees a refresher at a session that followed the October incident involving Middendorf's son.
Hart, the company spokeswoman, did not respond to requests for more information.
In December, the district held its own mandatory, one-hour training session with the drivers and monitors of its 22 special-needs buses, which transport a total 365 students to various schools throughout Beaufort County, district spokesman Jim Foster said Thursday.
The training, held periodically, covered the different disabilities of the riders, the behaviors they might exhibit and how to control those behaviors on a bus.
The district's special education teachers decided it was something they needed to do, independently of the October bus incident, Foster said.
"We do training all the time and we're constantly trying to make sure we're doing as good a job as we can," he said.
Regardless of the outcome of Durham's investigation, Jackson is to have no further contact with students, the district advised the company Thursday.
"These are obviously very serious charges," Foster said.
Follow reporter Rebecca Lurye on Twitter at twitter.com/IPBG_Rebecca.
Related content:
- District: No improper contact in incident with bus driver, autistic child , October 28, 2014
This story was originally published February 18, 2015 at 6:53 PM with the headline "Updated with video: Special-needs bus monitor reported by victim's mother before."