Teenage boy charged with sexual assaults after incidents on school bus
A family in western Newfoundland says it's disappointed by the response from the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District after alleged sexual assaults took place on a school bus.
RCMP confirm that three charges of sexual assault have been laid, involving two different victims, and that the matter is still before the courts.
The family says their eight-year-old daughter is one of the victims, allegedly assaulted by a teenage boy.
The family wants assurances from the NLESD that changes are being made to prevent future incidents, and has made some recommendations, but say their concerns aren't being addressed.
"If you're working for the school board or in a school, it is literally your only job to keep those kids safe," said the girl's stepmother.
But the board says there are budgetary and privacy-related roadblocks to following through on some of what the family wants to happen.
'Complete and utter shock'
The girl's family can't be identified, but CBC News spoke with both her mother and stepmother.
They said the girl disclosed the alleged assaults in June of this year, but that the incidents happened in the fall of 2017, while their daughter was a passenger on her school bus.
The girl's mother said it was a "complete and utter shock" to hear her daughter's account of how a male teenager put his hand inside her underwear and touched her.
'It was very aggressive and very serious.' - Alleged victim's stepmother
The alleged victim's stepmother said that, by pointing to where she was touched, the girl communicated what she said had occurred.
"It was forceful and it was under her clothes and it was in, in her pants, under her underwear. So it was very aggressive," said the girl's stepmother.
"You know, this wasn't just a minor bullying incident on a school bus. It was very aggressive and very serious."
Family reported sexual assaults
The girl's family members said they went to the RCMP and to their child's school as soon as she told them.
Police investigated and eventually laid charges, and the family said the school acted swiftly to ensure the boy would not continue attending the school.
The girl's mother and stepmother said they were initially pleased with that response, and felt their concerns were being taken seriously.
However, the family made other requests to the NLESD, in hopes of preventing similar incidents in the future.
That's when the family said it felt that the board stopped responding to their concerns.
"They figured as long as they removed the boy from the school, there was no longer a safety concern, and that hit me hard," said the girl's mother.
"Just because the boy's removed from the school, that doesn't mean that there's not a chance for this to happen again."
Requests for changes to help all students
The girl's family met with the school and officials from the school board on multiple occasions.
They made several requests to the school board, including inquiries about cameras on school buses, and volunteer or paid bus monitors on board – people whose job would be to ensure the safety of students.
"I mean, they get volunteer monitors for field trips, recess, breakfast club here at the school, but they don't have it to and from school," said the girl's stepmother. "It doesn't make any sense."
But the school board says privacy and budgetary concerns are obstacles to making those changes.
Tony Stack, CEO and director of education for the NLESD, said student safety is the district's top priority.
'It's obviously gut-wrenching to the parents involved and to the child themselves. It's absolutely horrific.' - Tony Stack
He described it as "horrifying" to consider that there would be any allegation of sexual assault on a school bus in the district.
Stack told CBC News he can't comment about this specific case, because the allegations and charges come under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
"It's obviously gut-wrenching to the parents involved and to the child themselves. It's absolutely horrific," said Stack. "This is not something that we want to have associated with school in any way."
In responding to some of the family's specific concerns, Stack said the privacy commissioner has weighed in on the use of cameras on school buses, and it's clear the district doesn't have leeway to use them in this case.
"They say there must be an ongoing problem that cannot be addressed through other means before cameras would be installed," said Stack.
As for bus monitors to supervise children, Stack said that there's no money in the budget to hire them. He said volunteers in the school system always work only under the guidance of teachers, who obviously would not be present on bus rides to and from school.
The family said some of the answers provided to CBC News by the NLESD were not communicated to them, including specifics like the use of bus monitors.
With regard to sending home a notice to parents about an alleged incident, which didn't occur in this case, Stack said the school district would be extremely limited in what it could possibly say because of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
The girl's mother believes parents should always be notified when there's been such a serious accusation.
"Parents should be aware that their child is not being monitored the way that they should be when they enter that school bus," she said.
