Autocarro escolar - look out!

Last spring, a sixth-grade Montgomery County girl was thrown down in the back of her school bus by several older boys who, the girl said, grabbed her breasts and buttocks and feigned sex acts.

In December, a 6-year-old Frederick County girl was allegedly fondled by a middle-schooler while riding a bus to her gifted student program. Her mother said she didn't learn of the incident until May, when the driver told her.

Two months ago, an 11-year-old girl was allegedly attacked by two girls and three boys during a bus ride home from her elementary school, south of Richmond. The group, the girl said, held her down, groped her and penetrated her with an object.

"Sexual harassment is a much more serious issue in public schools than most people have been willing to admit," said Robert Shoop, a professor at Kansas State University. "And it's much more likely to occur in unsupervised venues -- like buses or bathrooms."

Buses are "more dangerous, in that society has become more sexualized and less civil," Shoop added. "Now many more kids are saying, 'I don't want to ride the bus.' They're scared."

Yet, he said, only about 5 to 10 percent of students report being victimized. "It takes a lot of courage on the kid's part and money on the parent's part" to press forward with charges, Shoop said.

Schools, safety advocates say, need to improve school bus supervision, teach students about appropriate behavior and encourage students to report incidents that cross the line. When incidents do occur, quick and decisive action by schools and police is vital, Shoop said. "Kids have to see there are consequences," he said. Otherwise, "they don't see it as serious."

Sometimes neither participants nor victims know when bad behavior becomes criminal.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/13/AR2005061301642.html