Video shows 8-year-old DeKalb County student attacked on school bus, mom says

ATLANTA, Ga. (CBS46) - The mother of a DeKalb County 8-year-old says a disturbing video shows her daughter attacked on the school bus ride home, and she wants to know why no one intervened. The family now has plans to move away because of the incident.

“Beat her a**, h*e,” students are heard repeating in the footage.

Onboard the DeKalb County bus Friday afternoon, the Fairington Elementary students appear to incite the brawl beating of Charice Green’s 8-year-old.

“They were chanting together,” described Green. “When I actually [saw] the videos, it just broke my heart because my baby was crying out for help.”

Now five days later, the bruises are healing but the emotional scaring remains.

The mother told CBS46, “this is going to haunt my kids the rest of their life. This is going to carry on into their adulthood.”

She believes her children have been targeted because they’re “outsiders.” Explaining, her kids are newer students and from Ware County, Ga, while the rest of the neighborhood kids grew up together.

On April 15, Green alleges her daughter tried to move away from a set of kids arguing, when one of them pulled her hair then another did the same -- prompting even more students to join in, eventually throwing hits.

“The bus driver never stopped the bus, she never even yelled and said, ‘hey you guys cut that out.’” Green claims, “she never even acknowledged that there was a situation going on.”

Bus drivers tell CBS46 they’re not supposed to intervene, but instead, pull over safely and call for backup.

CBS46 learned a parent came onto the bus and pulled the kids off Green’s daughter.

Through tears, the Decatur mother pleaded for more families to hold their students accountable for bully behavior.

“I just really want them to actually talk to their kids and see exactly what the issue is because it does start at home with us. I don’t teach my kids violence, but they did protect themselves.”

On Thursday, several Fairington Elementary School Parents told CBS46 that the Dekalb County District and the school failed to notify parents about the brawl on the bus.

“Even though it happened on the school bus technically that’s an extension of the school, so I am going to call the principal today because to me it doesn’t make sense,” said parent Anita Brown.

“To know that no one is stepping in to intervene between the two students is kind concerning because how can we trust anybody else to make sure our students are protected. School is one of the places where we expect them to be safe,” added Leah Thompson, another parent of a student at the school.

CBS46 reached out to the Dekalb County School District about its intervention policy for bus drivers, a spokesperson said the incident is under investigation. Adding, they cannot provide further comment.

Green’s 8-year-old and 10-year-old daughters went back to Fairington Elementary Wednesday due to Georgia Milestone testing. But she says after this week, they will be moving back home to Ware County.

Some parents were upset that they were not notified about the incident.

CBS46 reached back out to the district to find out why parents were not notified and they responded with the following statement from a district spokesperson:

“Anytime discipline issues arise, appropriate school-level and district staff work together with the involved students and their families to follow district protocols and student codes of conduct in determining the suitable consequences.

As part of the District’s standard operating procedures involving altercations, an investigation is conducted, parents of the involved students are contacted, and appropriate consequences are issued. In this instance, available video evidence, statements, and other information were collected and evaluated by administrators and law enforcement. This incident has been handled administratively.

The DeKalb County School District remains committed to safe transportation for all students. To this end, we continue to make every reasonable effort to prevent incidents like this from occurring moving forward.”

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