A school bus driver accused last spring of pushing and kicking a middle school student off his bus is now facing a three-day suspension for the dust-up that was caught on a cellphone video.
School police investigators concluded Robert Richardson acted inappropriately last May when he argued with and then shoved a sixth-grader who attended Eagles Landing Middle School.
Richardson was removed from driving duties after the incident. He would be back behind the wheel once the suspension, if approved, is served.
The report to be presented to the school board Wednesday says that Richardson was substituting on an unfamiliar route May 16 when he missed a stop. That led to a yelling match on the bus between the driver and several students.
Investigators reported:
“One of the disruptive students was already off the bus when Mr. Richardson cursed at and insulted the students. The student began to charge toward Mr. Richardson in an attempt to re-board the bus. Mr. Richardson first used his hands and then his foot to push the student backwards off the bus. Mr. Richardson closed the door of the bus and the student punched the door of the bus, breaking the glass.”
The video, obtained by WPEC-Channel 12, lasts only seconds but did pick up Robinson confronting the 5-foot-1, 117-pound boy blurting out something that ends with “crying like a little (expletive)”.
At the time of the incident, the boy’s mother Keysha Bostic reported the boy scraped his arm in his fall from the bus but was otherwise uninjured.
In another personnel matter, board members also will be asked Wednesday to approve a five-day suspension from a cafeteria worker who investigators said padded the number of students eating at Carver Middle School’s cafeteria in order to earn the school about $23,000 more federal cash.
They said Juliene Garcia directed her staff to “falsely inflate” the number of students eating in the cafeteria. They said Garcia did not personally benefit from what school police deemed criminal fraud, but the district did have to reimburse the USDA. The State Attorney’s office declined to pursue the charges.
