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Parent says daughter was assaulted near bus doors and urges review of bus-camera policy
Summary
Stephanie Belew told the Centennial School District board that her daughter was assaulted at the bus steps and that exterior bus cameras did not capture the full incident; she asked trustees to clarify discipline rules distinguishing aggressors from students acting in self-defense and to review bus-camera settings.
Stephanie Belew, a Warminster resident, told the Centennial School District Board of School Directors on June 9 that her daughter was attacked from behind on a school bus about a month earlier and then suspended for defending herself. Belew said she reviewed portions of the video the police obtained from the school and that the footage shows the assault began at the bus steps but that exterior cameras did not capture what happened on the side of the bus, leaving an incomplete record.
"Despite being attacked, my daughter was suspended after defending herself," Belew said, and she urged the board to review whether district discipline policies provide enough discretion to distinguish an aggressor from a student acting in self-defense. She also asked trustees to evaluate the bus-camera system so exterior footage records incidents more consistently; Belew said current settings record only in certain modes (for example, when the bus stop sign is extended), which left a gap in evidence for her case.
Belew said the police investigated the incident and that the principal expressed willingness to attend court with the family because "no one should be assaulted." She told the board she has not yet received the official police report or photographs of her daughter’s injuries.
Board members did not take a formal action during the public-comment period but asked for follow-up. A district representative on the dais acknowledged the concern and said school staff had asked for help assessing camera coverage; trustees asked staff to follow up with details about camera configuration and about how discipline decisions are made when an incident occurs outside the camera’s field of view.
The issue raises two separate inquiries the board may pursue: whether current discipline rules allow administrators to treat self-defense differently from an initial aggressor, and whether the district’s transportation video system captures sufficient exterior footage at the times and places incidents commonly occur. Belew said her family will remain part of the district community and urged transparency and fairness in resolving the case.
