Courtesy of WLWT
CINCINNATI — The mother of a 9-year-old girl who said she was sexually assaulted last week on a Cincinnati Schools bus said she’s upset by Roberts Paideia Academy’s response to the incident.
“I don’t think the school, in my personal opinion, was taking this seriously,” said the mother of the fourth-grader.
The Price Hill woman said she was not notified of her daughter’s claims until school administrators called to say the girl would be suspended from riding the bus over the incident.
The girl said a 13-year-old student forced her to perform oral sex on him as they rode the bus home from Roberts Academy, and the girl’s mother said the bus driver said he witnessed the assault.
“She told me – as she was leaving the school bus, getting off the bus – she asked the bus driver did he see what happened, and he said yes, and he was going to write her and this boy up,” the girl’s mother said.
Even if the driver thought the act was consensual, the girl’s mother pointed out, her daughter is only 9 years old and unable to legally consent to sexual activity.
Representatives from First Student transportation services declined to comment on camera, but the company’s written policy states that drivers who witness serious offenses must stop the bus and call for assistance.
School officials also declined to comment on the incident, but the girl’s mother said she wants to know why they planned to punish her daughter.
“I feel they violated my daughter’s rights and she was not kept safe,” she said.
Cincinnati police are continuing their investigation, but they declined to discuss their findings so far. CINCINNATI — The mother of a 9-year-old girl who said she was sexually assaulted last week on a Cincinnati Schools bus said she’s upset by Roberts Paideia Academy’s response to the incident.
“I don’t think the school, in my personal opinion, was taking this seriously,” said the mother of the fourth-grader.
The Price Hill woman said she was not notified of her daughter’s claims until school administrators called to say the girl would be suspended from riding the bus over the incident.
The girl said a 13-year-old student forced her to perform oral sex on him as they rode the bus home from Roberts Academy, and the girl’s mother said the bus driver said he witnessed the assault.
“She told me – as she was leaving the school bus, getting off the bus – she asked the bus driver did he see what happened, and he said yes, and he was going to write her and this boy up,” the girl’s mother said.
Even if the driver thought the act was consensual, the girl’s mother pointed out, her daughter is only 9 years old and unable to legally consent to sexual activity.
Representatives from First Student transportation services declined to comment on camera, but the company’s written policy states that drivers who witness serious offenses must stop the bus and call for assistance.
School officials also declined to comment on the incident, but the girl’s mother said she wants to know why they planned to punish her daughter.
“I feel they violated my daughter’s rights and she was not kept safe,” she said.
Cincinnati police are continuing their investigation, but they declined to discuss their findings so far.
