Riding the school bus should never be something that children dread or fear, and yet some students act out and torment their classmates. While many times the scars they leave are only emotional, sometimes they are physical.
When Lillian Waldron, a 10-year-old student at Langlade Elementary School in Green Bay, Wisconsin, got off her school bus one day her mother said she was inconsolable. It wasn’t until Lillian was getting ready to take a bath that her mother, Lynn Waldron-Moehle, realized why Lillian was unable to calm down.
Another student bit her.
“She can’t tell them to stop, she couldn’t get away, because she’s in a five-point harness car seat. She just had to sit there and take it and the bus driver wasn’t stopping,” Waldron-Moehle told WBAY.
According to Waldron-Moehle, Lillian is developmentally delayed, has the mannerisms of a 2-year-old, and cannot speak.
Since Lillian has difficulty communicating, Waldron-Moehle was initially unaware of the pain her daughter was in as she got off the school bus.
“She loves baths and that’s soothing to her, so I brought her home, and I was getting her ready for the bath and I took her sweatshirt off and that’s when I noticed the major bruising on her upper arm,” she said.
Her parents were understandable upset.
“The seat was right behind the bus driver and he couldn’t hear anything going on or see anything? Come on,” Chad Waldron, Lillian’s father, said.
The bus, which is is only for special needs children, did have a camera onboard and Lillian’s principal watched the video of the incident.
“He said it was gruesome and horrifying to look at, and that the girl was brutally biting my daughter’s arm,” Waldron-Moehle said.
According to Lillian’s parents, the student who bit their daughter is no longer attending Langlade Elementary School, but they’re still concerned for her safety. The couple believe that last year her daughter was undressed and touched inappropriately while she rode the bus.
“The District is conducting an investigation into the situation and will be working with the bus company to ensure appropriate processes and procedures are in place to prevent this from occurring in the future,” school district Superintendent Michelle Langenfeld said in a statement.
Until Lillian’s parents feel that she is safe, she will ride to and from school alone in a van with two adults.
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What happened to Lillian is unacceptable. If someone was on the bus supervising the children this could have been prevented.
If you see something, say something or step in.
Share this story to show your support for Lillian.
