Bus attendant slapped and shook 7-year-old ESE student......what punishment should he get?

Question

The attendant has been complaining to her mother recently about her behavior. She has been diagnosed at various times as autistic, developmentally delayed, and the most recent one, as mentally retarded with an IQ in the 40s. The student's mother started having her 5-year-old son ride on the ESE bus so she could know more about what was going on. Well, one day the above incident occurred.....the student was yelling and the bus attendant told her to be quiet, then the student yelled defiantly and the bus attendant walked over to her, slapped her on the arm, shook her, and told her to shut up. When they got to school the brother and another child on the bus reported the incident to their teachers. The school principal, VP, etc. watched a video from the bus and although the quality of the video was poor, the video matched the story the children told. What punishment should the attendant receive? Suspended? Fired? Criminal prosecution?

Answer 1

none he was just doing his job

Answer 2

Fired. Criminal prosecution. There is no excuse for this behavior. Adults who cannot control their anger should not be working with children.

Answer 3

Check your district policy. Adults, especially working with special populations, need to find otherways of handling disruption than hitting.

Answer 4

Fired! Definitely. No one should hit a child in anger no matter how obnoxious or rude they are. And I would think the Mom should have not put a five year old in the position to babysit/police his older sister. She should have asked to be able to ride the bus or look at the tape to see if her daughter in fact was being a disturbance.

Answer 5

Being an attendant is not an easy job. That, however, is not an excuse to heat a young defenseless child, The proof is certainly there and evident.

The record of the attendant should be looked at. Suspended should be the least of the punishment. Firing should take place if the attendant is new or has had other problems of this type on her record.

Answer 6

Fired and prosecuted, absolutely.  This is assault not only on a minor, but on a minor with disabilities--a shameful act which cannot be tolerated.  I'd call the police immediately.

Answer 7

Fired and sued.

Period.

Answer 8

I think termination is definitely appropriate.  I also think the tape should be turned over to to the county or district prosecutor to see if criminal charges are appropriate. This is physical abuse per and simple.

I also think the school needs to come up with an appropriate policy for dealing with special needs on the bus. The district I live in has a special needs bus with trained attendants on that bus.  However, since the kids are not able to speak for themselves and video is available the video should be watched regularly.

Luckily no permanent damage was done.  However, the attendant has limited patience in a job where endless patience is necessary. This person should not work with children.

Answer 9

I am not sure why one person suggested that the attendant was just doing his job.  We wouldn't tolerate one child slapping another child - why should an adult be forgiven for this.  What he committed was assault and criminal charges should be filed.

Answer 10

training/workshop for the attendent.  especially if they are working on a bus with spec. ed. students.  

and the attendent should not be allowed to come back to work without this training.