ARVADA, Colo. — Police are investigating after a student in Jefferson County assaulted a bus driver on her route earlier this week.
"I don't think any staff at Jeffco should ever have to fear for their safety while they're working, ever," said Trevor Byrne, vice president of the Jeffco Education Support Professionals Association (JESPA) and bus driver with Jeffco Public Schools.
Tense moments on a Jeffco school bus Monday left a driver injured and a student facing charges.
Video of the incident obtained by 9NEWS shows the driver tried to kick the student and her boyfriend off the bus at Arvada High School, claiming they were being verbally abusive. The student wouldn't leave, first calling her mother before attacking the driver.
Byrne said what happened on that bus was frustrating. As the district sends more resources to ridesharing services over buses, Byrne said bus drivers are having their routes cut, stretching drivers thin.
"One of the challenges that we're facing right now is an understaffing problem, which is affecting all of our employees and staff, and it's affecting our safety and security in our schools and on our buses," Byrne said.
In tense situations, bus assistants on board can help cool things down. Byrne said this driver didn't have that help.
> Video below: RAW: Colorado school bus video shows student attack driver
"I would hope that an incident like that would show that adequate staffing could help prevent any incidents like that in the future from happening," Byrne said.
As JESPA meets the district at the bargaining table over the next few months, Byrne said they want to see these issues addressed. They're calling for safe and adequate staffing, including a bus assistant on every school bus and a paraprofessional for every special needs student.
After this driver was assaulted simply for doing her job, Byrne said he hopes to see the district take their demands for safety seriously.
9NEWS reached out to Jeffco Public Schools about the assault on one of their drivers by this student. They declined an interview and sent over a statement Tuesday that reads as follows:
A very serious incident took place on one of our school buses which resulted in harm to one of our bus drivers. Disciplinary action has been initiated by the district and local law enforcement has an open investigation related to this matter.
We want to commend the other students who were on the bus at the time who checked in on the driver’s wellbeing and offered her support in addition to the SRO who responded immediately. In Jeffco we value all of our staff and our bus drivers, in particular, play such an important role in students’ education in getting them to and from school. It is absolutely unacceptable to us that an employee would come to harm on the job. In reviewing all safety incidents we strive to improve and strengthen our measures to keep our staff and students safe.
The district is concerned for this driver’s wellbeing and working with her to ensure she has the time she needs to recover and support to return to the job when she is ready.
Arvada Police said the student has been preliminarily charged with third-degree assault and criminal mischief.
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