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9-year-old girl sexually assaulted on Boston school bus for months, lawsuit alleges
The girl was in fourth grade at Match Community Day Charter Public School in Hyde Park.
A Roxbury mother is suing Boston Public Schools, a private bus company, and two of its employees after her young daughter was allegedly raped and sexually assaulted multiple times on a school bus.
The then-9-year-old was assaulted repeatedly by a male student between October 2022 and May 2023, according to the complaint filed in Suffolk Superior Court on Friday.
According to the complaint, two of the girl’s friends notified school officials after she confided in them. The male student allegedly threatened the girl with physical violence if she reported him.
The girl was in fourth grade at Match Community Day Charter Public School in Hyde Park. The Match Foundation, the nonprofit that operates the school, is also named in the suit.
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“While we cannot comment on ongoing litigation, we took all appropriate steps to immediately notify the proper authorities, work closely with the families involved, and secure the safety of the students,” Match Foundation President and CEO Nnenna Ude said in a statement. “Match Charter Public School does not operate the buses that transport our students to and from school. But, we are committed to supporting our students and families whether incidents happen on or off campus.”
The suit also names the private bus company, Transdev Services, and company employees.
Over a seven month period, the complaint alleges, incidents took place just a few feet away from both the bus monitor and driver, who “either knew or reasonably should have known” about the sexual assaults.
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“The plaintiff has not only suffered great physical and mental harm, but she was forced to leave school just a few months shy of finishing fourth grade for fear of the physical or social repercussions, impacting her academic and social development,” Morgan & Morgan, the law firm representing the plaintiffs, said in a press release.
The bus is required to have video equipment onboard. However, there was no video found from the entire period of the alleged abuse despite a specific request for preservation of the video in May 2023, the complaint said.
A Boston Public Schools employee said all district buses have onboard cameras and that footage is “stored for a reasonable period of time.” The district found out about the incident after footage for the dates in question was no longer available, they said.
“Boston Public Schools’ top priority is the safety of our young people,” BPS spokesperson Max Baker said in a statement. “Our jurisdiction to take action is limited when it comes to students who do not attend a Boston Public School but still utilize BPS buses, and we were devastated to learn of this disturbing alleged incident five months after it occurred. Once we were informed, BPS took all the available and appropriate steps possible. The BPS Department of Transportation provided all information available to Match Charter School, which is legally responsible for investigating all incidents of impropriety regarding their students.”
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Morgan & Morgan said two of their attorneys have been investigating BPS and Transdev’s “alleged misconduct and failures” since May. According to them, another student has “allegedly been assaulted on the school bus” since.
“There is a nine-year-old child in Boston who was raped repeatedly on her way home from school over an entire school year,” attorneys Nina Bonelli and Alexander Zodikoff said in the release. “Our lawsuit alleges that it was the failure of Boston Public Schools and Transdev to follow their own policies that directly led to this young child’s assault.”
Transdev Services did not return a request for comment.
This story has been updated with a statement from Boston Public Schools.
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