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School bus investigation shows no racial segregation, SMF officials say

An investigation into an accusation of racial segregation on a Stow-Munroe Falls school bus has found that the children were reassigned seats because of student behavior, not the students’ race, district officials said.
The Stow-Munroe Falls City School District immediately launched an investigation into the accusation earlier this month when an unidentified mother reported to WOIO Channel 19 News that her child had been made to move seats on the bus.
She told the news station: “I received a phone call from my child, and they stated that the bus driver had separated the Black kids from the white kids and had the Black kids move up to the front of the bus and they couldn’t sit in the back of the bus with the other white kids.”
But school district Superintendent Tom Bratten said a thorough investigation – including viewing video footage from on-board cameras on the bus – showed the bus driver had followed school policies correctly.
“First and foremost, after talking with our driver and reviewing the bus video from the day of the incidents and then after the bus driver had reassigned seats, we have found no evidence that students were assigned seats based on their race, as was raised by one of our parents,” he said.
Children had their seats reassigned by the driver because of unruly conduct that could have been dangerous, he said.
“In this case, our review of the bus video for the day in question showed instances of unsafe student behavior, including students standing and kneeling on seats, throwing trash out bus windows and stuffing trash into seats,” Bratten said. “On the next school day, the driver allowed students to keep their seatmates and assigned seats to maintain an orderly, safe atmosphere on the bus. Our review of the bus video from that day showed that students of different races were dispersed in seats throughout the bus and the students’ behavior was much improved.”
Bratten thanked the parent for highlighting her concerns so the incident could be investigated promptly.
“We want to know about any such concerns and thank our parent for bringing this to our attention,” he said. “We have talked with that parent about these concerns.
“As we previously said, the district does not condone discrimination or segregation in any form and will take timely, appropriate measures if any such allegations are substantiated. The safety of all our students in all situations, including while on our buses, is a primary concern and in this situation, our driver took appropriate actions to assure that safety.”
The Spotlight requested a copy of the video recording but was told by the school district that it is not available to the public.