DEARBORN, Mich. – A mother makes an emotional plea to Dearborn Public School’s board and superintendent after her child was injured on a school bus.
The mother said that her child’s bruises have not healed since the matter occurred.
“It’s been two weeks, and bruises around my son’s neck haven’t healed completely,” said the mother during Monday’s (May 9) school board study session.
The mother introduced herself as Zeinab Nassar. She explained that her 13-year-old son has autism and is non-verbal.
“My son has been choked by his harness on the ride to school,” Nassar said. “By the time they got to school, his lips were blue, his eyes were red, and he had a red spot on his face that were results of lack of oxygen.”
Nassar also said that this was not the first incident like this on a bus and said several parents are not letting their kids ride the bus because of negative experiences.
Superintendent Dr. Glenn Maleyko said the child’s parents were called immediately. The student was also checked by school nurses and was able to continue school for the rest of the day and was back at school the next day.
“We’re apologetic that this whole situation occurred to them,” said Maleyko. “I know that it created a lot of stress for them and their family.”
Maleyko explained that the bus driver and the bus aid are not DPS staff; they were contracted through a third party, National Trails.
DPS launched an investigation that’s recently concluded.
“Our finding was that there was some corrective action that was necessary, and so we were concerned enough that we did not want them returning to our district in the action that was taken by the both of them,” Maleyko said.
The school district said they’ve talked on the phone and met in person with the child’s parents multiple times and planned to meet Tuesday, but the parents had to cancel.
“There are a group of parents that are not sending their parents on the bus out of the fearful experience,” Nassar said.
DPS is reviewing training material and told Local 4 News that they are doing everything they can to make sure something like this never happens again.