MARYSVILLE — Six Marysville middle school boys are under investigation after an alleged sexually motivated assault of a 13-year-old girl on a school bus last week, officials said Thursday.
Marysville School District Superintendent Larry Nyland said he could not discuss details of the ongoing investigation, including the specific nature of the allegations or if the bus driver witnessed anything suspicious.
The incident, which was captured on videotape, allegedly occurred on a bus ride March 1. It involved Marysville Middle School students, Nyland said. The school district did not learn about the allegations until the next day.
The boys range from 11 to 15 years old, police said.
Police and the school district are doing separate investigations but are in close contact, Nyland said.
“Police are conducting a full criminal investigation,” Marysville police Cmdr. Robb Lamoureux said. “We are trying to determine the level of involvement of each of the individual boys. It appears that some were less involved.”
Lamoureux declined to describe what occurred. He said the incident was recorded on videotape from a surveillance camera on the bus.
Criminal charges are possible, Lamoureux said.
Nyland said the driver may not have been aware of what was going on. “The video camera saw things that the bus driver couldn’t see,” he said.
Aside from ordering the boys to stay home, no formal disciplinary action has been taken pending the outcome of the school district investigation, Nyland said.
“No determination has been made yet,” Nyland said. “They are not in school and they are not on the bus.”
Typically, in such situations, school districts issue a temporary emergency expulsion that can be changed to a suspension or full expulsion when all the facts are known.
“We are disappointed by this chain of events and we are highly concerned,” Nyland said. “We have worked hard with students on preventing harassment, intimidation and bullying so this incident is terribly disheartening.”
The district on Thursday sent letters home to parents whose children attend the school. It also was planning to post a message on its website.
In the letter, Marysville Middle School Principal Susan Hegeberg said the district was prevented by student privacy laws from sharing specific information about the incident or the students involved.
“Immediate actions were taken for the safety of students riding this bus, including having the students involved in this incident removed from the bus and from school,” Hegeberg wrote.
Nyland said the investigation takes time.
“It’s very complicated on our end,” Nyland said. “We are doing a lot of work with the girl. We are doing a lot of work with the boys and we are doing a lot of work with the other students on the bus.”
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com
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