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After the alleged incident was caught on video, the aide was placed on leave while the DCF investigates.
Something seemed off when a Cambridge family’s 9-year-old, non-verbal autistic son signed “all done” when the van arrived to pick him up for school last week.
Linda and Jeffery Vick assumed their son Noah simply didn’t want to go to school — which would be unusual for Noah, who typically jumps up and down and is excited to go.
The Vicks were unaware that the day before, video footage — eventually described to them by a Department of Children and Families representative — showed that a substitute aide in the van was restraining their son and calling him the devil.
Noah was on an NRT bus, paid for by the Cambridge School District, on his way back from the New England Center for Children in Southborough.
Linda Vick told Boston.com that she learned of the incident on Wednesday, Oct. 28, days later, when DCF alerted her to it.
Looking back, Vick said her son’s signing “all done” meant he didn’t want to get back on the bus.
“If we knew this happened, we would have known what he meant,” Vick said.
The day after the incident, the school reported that Noah’s demeanor changed without apparent cause, becoming aggressive and agitated.
Vick said she was outraged when she learned that after the incident, NRT kept the aide on the bus for the rest of the week. She was even more upset that the second monitor or the bus driver didn’t tell her about it.
Vick said she has not been allowed to view the footage of the video.
Meanwhile, she said she has pulled her son out of NRT transportation and is driving him to school, a one-hour drive.
“My son’s safety is above everything,” Vick said.
As of Thursday, Vick has not received any updates other than that DCF is continuing to investigate the incident.
“Student safety is our top priority, and we are fully cooperating with the authorities and DCF in this open investigation,” a NRT Bus spokesperson said.
The company placed the employee in question on leave.
The Cambridge Public School system, in a statement to Boston.com, said that when it was first alerted, NRT told them it was a “peer-to-peer” physical altercation on an NRT vehicle.
CPS reached out to obtain security footage, and upon review, it showed “an NRT staff member, while attempting to prevent the student from inflicting harm on anyone, appears to have engaged in an improper restraint of the student.”
CPS informed NRT that the person involved in this incident is prohibited from transporting any Cambridge children, effective immediately.
NRT informed the district that a 51a, child endangerment report, was filed with DCF.
CPS says it is not aware of a determination on the report, and that it also filed a separate one.
CPS said it previously worked with NRT to mandate appropriate training for staff to support students’ various needs in the specialized transportation program.
“The safety and well-being of our students will continue to be our first priority, and we will continue to demand the highest standards of care by NRT and all other district vendors,” the statement said.
DCF did not immediately return a request for comment.
Vick warned other parents to be vigilant of their children’s behavior, noting there could be something like this behind it.
She added, “Don’t stop fighting.”
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