SNOHOMISH — A Snohomish School District bus driver is no longer on the job after he was placed on leave in January for yanki
ng a 6-year-old student to the bus floor by her backpack, officials said.
The incident, which was investigated as a potential assault, occurred Jan. 20 on a bus ride home from Cathcart Elementary School, school district officials said.
District spokeswoman Kristin Foley said she doesn’t know if the driver, 63, quit or was fired.
“The Snohomish School District acted on the matter immediately upon learning of the Jan. 20 incident on a Cathcart Elementary afternoon bus route,” Foley said.
Ashley Reavely said it was her daughter who was grabbed by her backpack and pulled to the floor.
She viewed the footage from a surveillance camera on the bus.
“It made me sick to my stomach when I saw it,” she said. “It was like an angry, full-grown male grabbing and dragging down a 6-year-old.”
She said she also was dissatisfied with what she said was a lack of candor by school officials. She said they called her to talk about what happened on the bus, but didn’t immediately say it involved her child.
Reavely said she also is concerned about how two other children were treated that day, after watching the full video, which she obtained from school officials. She provided a copy to two Seattle television stations Tuesday and also contacted The Herald. The video with this story is from KIRO TV, the newspaper’s partner. Here is a link to their story, including interviews with the girl and her mother.
Her daughter was in a front seat across the aisle from the bus driver. The girl stood up to talk to another student, her back to the front of the bus. That’s when the driver reached behind and pulled the girl down by backpack.
The district reported the situation to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office and referred the incident to the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction for investigation, Foley said.
The sheriff’s office took a report and has referred the matter to prosecutors for review, sheriff’s office spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said. No charges have been filed.
Reavely said she was upset that school officials didn’t tell her about the incident for several days. When she was contacted, school officials first told her that “a little girl” had been pulled down on the bus, and it may be traumatic for Reavely’s daughter. They didn’t tell her it was her child until after she confronted school officials, she said. She learned that detail when she talked with her daughter about the “little girl” who was pulled down on the bus, she said.
The bus driver began working for the district in 2001.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com
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