LARIMER COUNTY, Colo. — A federal lawsuit has been filed against the Poudre School District after it hired a man to work as an aide on school buses despite a prior child abuse conviction.
Last spring, Tyler Zanella was arrested on dozens of charges related to verbally and physically abusing nonverbal elementary school children on a bus. In April of this year, he pleaded guilty to 11 counts and was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison. Zanella was charged with 164 counts, but as part of the plea deal, the other 153 counts were dismissed.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday on behalf of two of the children whose parents want to hold the district accountable, their attorney said.
The lawsuit claims the district knew "on or around the time it hired him" that Zanella had a prior child abuse conviction, yet still hired him to work in a role where he had access to vulnerable children.
The lawsuit says Zanella lied about having a conviction, but it came to light when he was fingerprinted during the hiring process.
The district previously told 9NEWS that district officials had obtained a copy of a report related to Zanella's prior conviction and admitted he was asked about it during the hiring process, but declined to shed light on what he was asked or how he responded.
Months before a formal investigation was launched by Fort Collins Police, multiple complaints were made about Zanella's behavior, the lawsuit claims.
It says one family made several complaints that Zanella "lacked patience" and was not qualified to work with special needs children. In November and December 2022, one parent notified the district that Zanella had pulled her daughter's hair and "flipped her off," the lawsuit says.
The investigation into Zanella began in May 2023 when Fort Collins Police said the Poudre School District reported that he made an "inappropriate comment" to a student. That prompted a review of surveillance video from a school bus Zanella was on.
The video showed Zanella hitting a boy who has autism and is nonverbal, police said. More video footage was pulled from prior dates that shows Zanella involved in two other incidents with the same student on April 25 and May 19, an arrest affidavit says.
Documents show Adams County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Zanella on Jan. 3, 2012. Prosecutors charged Zanella with child abuse – knowingly or recklessly causing injury. In court, Zanella reached a deal with prosecutors, pleading to a reduced charge of child abuse – negligence, no injury.
