I hope the police are hauling in for questioning all the previous bus aides. Someone must have seen something before May.
Years ago, my son Had a bus driver who said he would like to invite my child to his house to sit on the sofa and watch Star Wars and eat popcorn. I laughed it off but it totally creeped me out at the time. Naively I didn’t report it. Didn’t even occur to me at the time. But boy given the last few years what’s happened in MCPS I sure would now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the SEAC meeting, parents asked for vigilance by MCPS to keep the aide with the bus and remind parents to be on time meeting the bus. A suggestion to hire a 2nd aide to remain on the bus was also made if MCPS feels it's necessary to have an aide leave sight of the bus. Point is, parents of nonverbal special education students do not want tgeir children alone with MCPS bus drivers here on out. It's not a safe practice.

Give parents access to the feed from the web cams. Let more eyes watch what goes on during bus rides.

Problem solved.

How would this be done?

Technically, it would not be hard to have this done. It's no different than if you have a video camera at home, an internet connection (even if slow), to capture some images on the bus and parents can access to see.

Would parents become mandatory reporters if they saw something happen to another child?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the SEAC meeting, parents asked for vigilance by MCPS to keep the aide with the bus and remind parents to be on time meeting the bus. A suggestion to hire a 2nd aide to remain on the bus was also made if MCPS feels it's necessary to have an aide leave sight of the bus. Point is, parents of nonverbal special education students do not want tgeir children alone with MCPS bus drivers here on out. It's not a safe practice.

Give parents access to the feed from the web cams. Let more eyes watch what goes on during bus rides.

Problem solved.

How would this be done?

Technically, it would not be hard to have this done. It's no different than if you have a video camera at home, an internet connection (even if slow), to capture some images on the bus and parents can access to see.

Parents need to be told if there have been other complaints about this individual before this summer. What’s in his personnel file?
The videotapes get recorded over every 60-90 days. So there is no way to know if any other children Were victimized before that period.
MCPS needs to be affirmatively notifying every family that had a child on one of his bus routes- even the ones who have graduated or aged out. And include in the notice that they want to hear if they ever complained about the bus driver and were ignored.
The video cams need to have some kind of removable thumb drive where they can save the footage. Or something. I’m not Techy but surely someone can figure it out!!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the SEAC meeting, parents asked for vigilance by MCPS to keep the aide with the bus and remind parents to be on time meeting the bus. A suggestion to hire a 2nd aide to remain on the bus was also made if MCPS feels it's necessary to have an aide leave sight of the bus. Point is, parents of nonverbal special education students do not want tgeir children alone with MCPS bus drivers here on out. It's not a safe practice.

Give parents access to the feed from the web cams. Let more eyes watch what goes on during bus rides.

Problem solved.

How would this be done?

Anonymous wrote:At the SEAC meeting, parents asked for vigilance by MCPS to keep the aide with the bus and remind parents to be on time meeting the bus. A suggestion to hire a 2nd aide to remain on the bus was also made if MCPS feels it's necessary to have an aide leave sight of the bus. Point is, parents of nonverbal special education students do not want tgeir children alone with MCPS bus drivers here on out. It's not a safe practice.

Give parents access to the feed from the web cams. Let more eyes watch what goes on during bus rides.

Problem solved.

Where did they get a guy named Kowabingo? Is he the Lone Rangers friend?

Anonymous wrote:I was dissatisfied with this email because I don't see anything apologizing or explaining HOW MCPS is going to prevent this kind of thing from happening yet again. We don't hear about this with other counties. WTF?

There are many stories about physical and emotional abuse of kids with SN by bus staff. I suspect that a little digging will uncover sexual abuse as well. Keep in mind that MCPS is huge compared to the majority of school districts. More people means a larger number will be predators than in a small district. Percentages might not vary much. . There’s also more vocal and empowered parents here. When something happens, it hits the news.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is so disgusting! I bet there are so many more victims but a lot of these kids do not know how to articulate this type of behavior!!

WHERE IS THE AIDE ON HIS BUS??

He should ROT in jail. EWW!

Clearly you haven’t followed this story because it has been explained that the aide has to get off the bus to assist the child being dropped off. It is likely that it always takes the aide longer to assist particular children (slow moving, parent not on time, child is in a wheelchair and must use the lift). This is when he knew he could prey on kids.

Yes I have followed the story. My son rides a special ed bus and the aide has never come out farther than the door of the bus. At most the aide is off the bus for a minute. Anyway, it is still gross and disgusting.

Whether or not the aide has to exit the bus entirely or for how long depends on the needs of each student. Your son got the level of support he needed. Other students need more such as being walked to a gate or escorted to a front door. I have seen aides stand in the lobby of my former apartment building repeatedly buzzing for upward of five minutes because the parent is running late.

No one is disagreeing that it is disgusting.

At the SEAC meeting, parents asked for vigilance by MCPS to keep the aide with the bus and remind parents to be on time meeting the bus. A suggestion to hire a 2nd aide to remain on the bus was also made if MCPS feels it's necessary to have an aide leave sight of the bus. Point is, parents of nonverbal special education students do not want tgeir children alone with MCPS bus drivers here on out. It's not a safe practice.

I was dissatisfied with this email because I don't see anything apologizing or explaining HOW MCPS is going to prevent this kind of thing from happening yet again. We don't hear about this with other counties. WTF?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is so disgusting! I bet there are so many more victims but a lot of these kids do not know how to articulate this type of behavior!!

WHERE IS THE AIDE ON HIS BUS??

He should ROT in jail. EWW!

Clearly you haven’t followed this story because it has been explained that the aide has to get off the bus to assist the child being dropped off. It is likely that it always takes the aide longer to assist particular children (slow moving, parent not on time, child is in a wheelchair and must use the lift). This is when he knew he could prey on kids.

Yes I have followed the story. My son rides a special ed bus and the aide has never come out farther than the door of the bus. At most the aide is off the bus for a minute. Anyway, it is still gross and disgusting.

Anonymous wrote:this is so disgusting! I bet there are so many more victims but a lot of these kids do not know how to articulate this type of behavior!!

WHERE IS THE AIDE ON HIS BUS??

He should ROT in jail. EWW!

Clearly you haven’t followed this story because it has been explained that the aide has to get off the bus to assist the child being dropped off. It is likely that it always takes the aide longer to assist particular children (slow moving, parent not on time, child is in a wheelchair and must use the lift). This is when he knew he could prey on kids.

this is so disgusting! I bet there are so many more victims but a lot of these kids do not know how to articulate this type of behavior!!

WHERE IS THE AIDE ON HIS BUS??

He should ROT in jail. EWW!

FYI: more victims were identified.
Here is the update from MCPS:

August 31, 2018
This message is an update to Superintendent Jack Smith's August 6, 2018 letter regarding the arrest of MCPS bus operator Etienne Kabongo, known by some as “Mr. Steve.”

On Thursday, August 30, 2018, Mr. Kabongo was indicted on 14 counts of sexual abuse stemming from his contact with four students on his bus route from May through July of 2018. These indictments include the charges identified in Dr. Smith’s Aug. 6 message.

As Superintendent Smith noted in his letter, MCPS is disgusted and disappointed in the alleged behavior of Mr. Kabongo. He is no longer employed with MCPS and remains incarcerated.

As previously shared, MCPS has created a document identifying the list of schools that Mr. Kabongo served. The document can be found here.

If you or your child have any information that may be helpful to the investigation, please call the Special Victims Investigations Division of the Montgomery County Police Department at 240-773-5400.

Additionally, MCPS has a dedicated response telephone line for school-related questions regarding Mr. Kabongo. The number for this telephone line is 240-740-3214.

Sincerely,
Montgomery County Public Schools