MOUNT JULIET, Tenn. — A system put in place to ensure students’ safety failed, and a mother is demanding answers after her daughter was injured in a fight Wednesday morning.
No Tape of Incident Exists as School Bus Camera Was Not Working During Beating
The Mount Juliet school district
worked recently to increase security on its buses, but a camera wasn’t working when the fight occurred.
Kathy Kilpatrick’s 14-year-old daughter was beaten by another teenager while on a Wilson County school bus, she said, but no tape of the incident exists. The ninth grader, Kendall, received a bloody forehead, which required 10 stitches.
The bus was headed to Wilson Central High School when Kendall said the other female student, whom she had argued with days before, started beating her.
“I didn’t push her. I may have touched her a little bit, and then she just threw the first punch and kept going,” said Kendall.
Kendall was suspended for one day. The other student, a 16-year-old, was suspended for five days and won’t be allowed to ride the school bus for a month. But Kendall’s mother said she isn’t satisfied and wants the other girl kicked out of school.
“There needs to be bullying laws in place. It’s absolutely ridiculous that our children have to go to school and be subject to this kind of violence on the school bus,” said Kathy Kilpatrick.
The school bus camera wasn’t working, so the punishments were based on what school officials were told.
A substitute school bus driver was at the wheel when the incident occurred, and the school system said that a mistake was made.
“The cameras have to be loaded and locked down, and for some reason, that device had not been locked down so it could record. That has been corrected,” said schools director Mike Davis.
Kilpatrick has filed assault charges against the child involved in the attack. Kendall said she won’t change schools because she likes Wilson Central High School.
http://www.wsmv.com/news/24858860/detail.html
Tags: school bus beating
“Jenn” the above poster obviously knows not of what she speaks. I know both of the girls involved. The bully in this case has attacked both boys and girls at school; has been kicked out of school before for bringing a knife to school and is now an un-wed mother at age 16. Get the picture here…and she is not the only bad seed in her family. They are all a disgrace to this comminity. Her younger brother is also constantly in trouble with the law.
“I may have pushed her a little bit”… It’s all the security camera’s fault and the bus and bus driver’s fault. This girl sounds like she did some provoking. She didn’t deserve the “beating”, but I’m sure she’s not snow white either.