Cameras Needed

The student is a 6th grader, and besides having autism, she had bruises on her arms and around her nose. Being non-verbal, the child couldn't tell anyone what happened to her, but that didn't matter - the school had cameras in the gym where the incident happened. And the incident happened because an instructional assistant assaulted the student.

Things like this just fuel my fears - fears over what happens to my child at school and on the bus - fears over what will happen when she is out of school, riding special transportation, and at a work site. These are the fears of my nightmares.

Although I am comfortable with Ashley's school environment now (she has the world's best teacher and we communicate daily), I do have major concerns about the bus transportation. And her school years in the past have been rough.

First there was the broken nose from falling up the school stairs when she was only 3 years old; then there was the split lip that required stitches that happened in the school hallway and 'nobody saw anything'; then there were the two broken front teeth that happened on the bus and "'we're so sorry, that camera wasn't working that day"; then the day she came home without her g-tube and "nothing happened here, we're sure of it" (until the next day when the g-tube was found on the playground); then the catscan that was needed because she tripped over a rug on top of carpet in the classroom and fractured her eye socket bone; then the cut to her head that required two staples caused by "Ashley did that to herself"; and then all the bruises to her arms and legs that look suspiciously like fingertips.

All schools need cameras in all classrooms and hallways and lunchrooms and offices and buses. Nothing short of that...