MURFREESBORO, Tenn.- A suspected school bus rape could wind up costing one school district millions of dollars. Some say it will be money well spent if such a crime never happens again.
Proposed, new safety measures could come up this week in Rutherford County. School buses often resemble a three-ring circus, and what happened on a Rutherford County Bus, according to police, has school board members insisting safety be restructured.
"It is a very serious incident," said school board member, Wayne Blair.
Brandon Stover,18, a senior at Riverdale High school, according to police reports, raped and sexually assaulted a 14 year old freshman nearly two weeks ago on the bus ride home.
The entire, alleged incident was captured by a camera lens. All 15, grueling minutes caught by a bus surveillance camera. The camera is designed to be a deterrent, or in this case, the provider of some hard evidence.
Human bus monitors are another suggestion to shore up safety in Rutherford County. People would be paid to chaperon children to and from school at the cost of an estimated $3 million.
"Does that $3 million blossom into three and a half, or four?? And uh, we're already working under budget constraints. We have over 100 children in portables," said Blair.
Board Vice Chairman Wayne Blair likes the idea of more, thorough training for the school bus drivers.
In the Murfreesboro case, the bus driver was Joe Bond. He's been criticized for seeing and hearing nothing. He has been cleared by the police and his employer.
"From what I understand from our central office, they feel like he followed all the procedures," said Blair.
Rutherford County simply doesn't have a lot of money to use. Some school board members are advocating some free safety measures like separating boys from girls, for example. Also they suggest seating the older kids apart from the younger ones.
This is all bound to come up at a school board work session slated for this Tuesday evening.
Bus driver Joe Bond insists, he learned of the attack after the incident.
Police and school officials maintain Bond did follow procedure once he was informed.
