BAPS: student conduct during bus incident ‘disappointing’

By John Dobberstein, Editor

Students involved in a fracas on a Broken Arrow school bus – including those filming the incident – could be facing a variety of consequences, the Broken Arrow Public Schools said Monday.

Video of the afternoon incident on March 4 posted to social media and shared publicly by KOTV shows a student repeatedly punching another defenseless student in her seat. The video also shows a handful of students choosing to stand back and film the incident, which lasted about 2 minutes, rather than intervene. It’s not clear at this time what prompted the Centennial Middle School student to start pummeling her classmate.

BAPS Chief Communications Officer Tara Thompson said Monday night the “appropriate authorities,” including the Broken Arrow Police Department, were notified about the incident and the school district was, “continuing to work closely with all parties involved to address the situation and assign disciplinary consequences.”

BAPS told KTUL that the victim’s family was working with Broken Arrow police to potentially file charges.

While the school district typically doesn’t discuss disciplinary taken against specific students, Thompson said the district will, “continue to assign the harshest possible consequences for any student(s) who violates our student code of conduct. This includes bystanders who engage in actions – such as making video recordings with cell phones – that incite or encourage further misconduct.”

The district’s student handbook includes 5 pages of information about potential discipline options, including suspensions.

“This is also a timely reminder for parents that legal charges may also be applied to students who engage in behavior that harms others,” Thompson said.

“We are deeply disappointed by the conduct seen on this video, and beyond the consequences we can assess as a district, we are asking for parents’ support in eliminating these types of incidents from our schools and buses. 

“Our buses are an extension of our classroom, and we will maintain order in both settings. Transportation to and from school aboard our buses is a privilege, not a right.”

Some have questioned why the bus driver didn’t intervene, but Thompson told KOTV that the bus driver was in the middle of a stop, on a road with no shoulders, and couldn’t immediately intervene.