Central Arkansas mother says school administrator injured 11-year-old son; district investigates

FILE — This 2015 file photo shows public school buses. (AP Photo/File)
FILE — This 2015 file photo shows public school buses. (AP Photo/File)

An Arkansas mother alleges her child suffered a concussion last week when an assistant principal in the Vilonia School District removed the 11-year-old from a school bus.

Vilonia schools Superintendent David Stephens said the incident is under investigation and the administrator accused of injuring the student, Tim Bullington, is still at work and has not been put on leave. Stephens said he could not provide further comment on student or personnel matters.

Sasha Huffman said her son Bray Huffman, a sixth grader at Frank Mitchell Intermediate School, was on the bus Friday afternoon when it stopped by the Vilonia Freshman Academy to pick up more students.

Bullington got on the bus to go over rules, Bray told his mother, and the administrator told him to remove his beanie. Huffman said that when the sixth grader told Bullington no, because his ears were cold, the assistant principal picked up the child to remove him, and in the process, banged the boy’s head on the bus roof.

“If he would have just talked to them, it would have been different,” Huffman said.

A video Huffman said she obtained from a bus rider and provided to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette shows an adult removing a child from a bus and the student's head hitting the roof. It does not show anything leading up to the removal.

It is against school policy to wear hats on campus, according to the handbook. Stephens said school buses are treated as an extension of campus where rules continue to apply. A National Weather Service meteorologist said it was about 57 degrees with a light breeze in the Conway area around the time of the incident.

Huffman said Bullington called her Friday evening and said he was sorry for what happened, but when she asked him why he picked up her son, she felt he dodged her question.

Aside from the call, Huffman said the only communication from the district was with the high school principal, Ronnie Simmons. He called Huffman on Monday to say her 16-year-old son, Scotty, was being suspended for three days for wearing a beanie to school that day — as a protest to support his brother, Huffman said. During the call, she asked Simmons if he knew what was going on with regard to the original incident.

He told her the superintendent had seen the video and was investigating, but Huffman said no one has reached out from the district to explain what is happening or check on her son.

Stephens said he could not comment on whether anyone from the district has met with the family. He also said he could not comment on the specifics of a student's record, but that disciplinary actions for students range from a 20-minute detention to out-of-school suspension. Discipline is at the discretion of the principal, Stephens said, but multiple offenses, insubordination or possession of drugs or alcohol are among the reasons a student might get out-of-school suspension.

“There is a ton of people who have come out of the woodwork to show they care,” Huffman said. “But Vilonia School District doesn’t care.”

When Bray began to show symptoms of a concussion over the weekend, including headache, dizziness and nausea, Huffman said, she took him to Arkansas Children’s Hospital and later to Arkansas Pediatrics of Conway.

Huffman provided the Democrat-Gazette with copies of notes from both doctors documenting his concussion and excusing him from school and certain activities until his symptoms subside. Bray has not returned to school as of Wednesday, Huffman said, and she expects he will be out for the rest of the week.

Huffman said she has spoken to state police about filing a report in the incident, and she intends to meet with an investigator soon.

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