Middleboro school bus driver sues employer for retaliation

According to the Massachusetts web site Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect :


Mandated Reporters
Massachusetts law defines the following professionals as mandated reporters: What is DCF?

•Physicians, medical interns, hospital personnel engaged in the examination, care or treatment of persons, medical examiners;
•Emergency medical technicians, dentists, nurses, chiropractors, podiatrists, optometrists, osteopaths;
•Public or private school teachers, educational administrators, guidance or family counselors;
•Early education, preschool, child care or after school program staff, including any person paid to care for, or work with, a child in any public or private facility, home or program funded or licensed by the Commonwealth, which provides child care or residential services. This includes child care resource and referral agencies, as well as voucher management agencies, family child care and child care food programs;
•Child care licensors, such as staff from the Department of Early Education and Care;
•Social workers, foster parents, probation officers, clerks magistrate of the district courts, and parole officers;
•Firefighters and police officers;
•School attendance officers, allied mental health and licensed human services professionals;
•Psychiatrists, psychologists and clinical social workers, drug and alcoholism counselors;
•Clergy members, including ordained or licensed leaders of any church or religious body, persons performing official duties on behalf of a church or religious body, or persons employed by a religious body to supervise, educate, coach, train or counsel a child on a regular basis; and
•The Child Advocate

Child Abuse and Neglect Overview
The Department of Children and Families (DCF) is the Massachusetts state agency charged with the responsibility of protecting children from child abuse and neglect. To report abuse or neglect, call the Child-at-Risk Hotline anytime of the day or night at 1-800-792-5200.


The intent of the law was to include ANYONE dealing with children who might be in a position to become aware of any possible abuse or neglect, but one would hope that others not included on the list who become aware of suspected abuse would step forward and speak out as well.

To nit-pick that a school bus driver is not included within the definition is disingenuous. Next door neighbors aren't included on the list either. To suggest that they shouldn't report suspected abuse because they're not specifically listed ignores common sense.

The parent's reaction and the bus company's makes one question how this was handled.

The Middleboro School System has revealed itself failing one child in the past and it appears they have handled this case inappropriately.

Having met Colleen, the love of her job shines through. It takes a special person!

RELATED ARTICLE:
Middleboro school bus driver sues employer for retaliation
Woman claims she was punished for reporting case of suspected child abuse in Middleboro

By Alice C. Elwell

MIDDLEBORO — A school bus driver has sued her employer, First Student Inc., for $1 million, saying the company retaliated against her for telling school officials about a suspected case of child abuse.

According to the lawsuit, Colleen M. Anderson, a bus driver for 25 years, said the child in question told her about an alleged case of abuse. Anderson, in turn, reported the matter to Terrance J. Brooks, assistant principal of the Burkland Elementary School, in March 2009.

The child is related to a supervisor. In the lawsuit, Anderson said she was removed from the company’s list of employees eligible for overtime pay, among other retaliatory measures, after she reported the alleged abuse.

“I would love to comment, but I am afraid of further retaliation. I love my job,” she said.

The company is asking the court to dismiss Anderson’s suit on the grounds that she was not required by law to report suspected abuse to authorities and therefore does not qualify for the protection granted to those who are.

Mandated reporting laws require people who work with children to tell authorities whenever they see or hear something that would give them reasonable cause to believe a child is being abused.

Matthew A. Porte, the attorney representing First Student, declined to comment.

Anderson’s attorney, Adam M. Bond of Middleboro, also declined to comment as the case is in litigation.

In Anderson’s statement to the court, Bond wrote, “Indeed, it is stunning that a national school bus company would actually assert such a counter-intuitive argument that boils down to an absolute elimination of a child-safety obligation that they should embrace, rather than attack.”

Bond asserts in his argument that any retaliation against Anderson would violate her right to protection under mandatory-reporting laws.

School Superintendent Michael Malone did not speak specifically to Anderson’s case, but said state law is vague in designating bus drivers as mandatory reporters.

“I would assume they would be mandated reporters. If not, they are required to report under our procedures,” Malone said. “The law says anyone who works for the school, or a person paid to care and work with children in a public or private facility.”

Bond’s court brief uses the Middleboro School Handbook as evidence to support Anderson’s claim.

“The bus driver has the responsibility to maintain control of behavior on the bus and shall be considered to have the same authority as the teacher in the classroom.”

The case is headed for the U.S. District Court in Boston on Dec. 20.

According to court documents, Anderson alleges that a month after she reported the child’s allegations, the charges of child abuse were turned against her.

She said the victim’s mother complained that Anderson was “engaging in inappropriate behavior” with the victim and other children.