Violence and Racism on the School Bus

A story published this week in the Portland Press Herald tells of a scene one would not expect to hear about in the year 2005 in Maine: a student being bullied because of his race. The scene took place last March on a school bus taking both middle school and high school kids home following after-school activities. It was instigated by 18-year old Reginald Theriault and a 15-year old peer, both of North Berwick, Maine. These two individuals allegedly began verbally assaulting a 13-year old student sitting in the back of the bus, using racial slurs and language that the reporter said was too offensive to be printed in the newspaper. According to Ellis (2005), other students on the bus not only did not come to the rescue of the student being attacked, many of them joined in. Before the end of the ride, the 13-year old victim had been both spat at and hit in the head by the 15-year old student (Ellis, 2005). Let’s take a look at the impact of this incident and what actions were taken as a result.

When the boy arrived home and told his mother what happened, she brought him to the doctor’s office where he was treated for minor injuries. She later reported what happened to both school officials and local police. Nothing was done for a period of time “because of the number of people involved,” (Ellis, 2005, 11) but eventually the Maine Attorney General’s Office filed a complaint against both the 15-year old and the 18-year old for violating the Maine Civil Rights Act. The article does not say what, if any, actions were taken by the school; however, it does note that the 15-year old student has been ordered by the court not to communicate with the 13-year old or members of his family. If he violates this order, he could be subjected to up to one year in jail. Since the situation was being investigated by the police, school officials apparently have not taken any action against the children involved.