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Schools

District investigating duct-tape story

A 5-year-old says he was sad and scared when his bus driver taped his mouth because he was talking.

By JACOB H. FRIES
Published December 15, 2005

DUNEDIN - Kyle Gerber provided such vivid detail about being duct-taped by a school bus driver that his parents said they couldn't help but believe him.

Kyle said a bus aide warned the driver about taping the kindergartener's mouth shut during the ride home Monday from Dunedin Elementary School. "His mom's not going to like this," he recalled the aide saying.

Kyle, 5, said he didn't like it either, and later told his father how he felt.

"Dad, I was sad and I was scared and the other kids laughed at me,"' Steve Gerber recalled him saying.

School officials have not said what they think happened on Monday's bus ride, but an investigation is under way.

"We have to let our investigation runs its course," Pinellas County schools spokesman Sterling Ivey said. "We don't dismiss people based on allegations."

Kyle told his parents that the driver had taped his mouth shut because he was talking as the bus left the school. The tape was removed a stop or two before his 20-minute ride ended, the boy said.

Kathy Gerber told the Times on Wednesday that she noticed a smudge on her son's face as soon as he stepped off the bus.

"Kyle, what have you been eating?" she recalled asking him.

"Nothing, Mom," the kindergartener said. "The bus driver put duct tape on my mouth."

The gummy residue on his chin is further evidence the boy is telling the truth, his parents said.

After first telling his mother what happened, Kyle related the same story to his father, then again to a sheriff's investigator. He never wavered or searched for answers to their questions, they said. His details were consistent.

"This child is telling the truth," said Kathy Gerber, 47. "Something happened on that bus."

The Sheriff's Office began a criminal investigation Monday night after receiving a call from the Gerber family. The case, however, was turned over Wednesday to a sworn law enforcement officer with the school district, who will finish the inquiry.

That investigator, Rick Stelljes, questioned about nine people Wednesday, including some students who were on the bus Monday, Ivey said.

He will interview several more people today, including the bus driver, and could finish the case by the end of the day.

If Stelljes substantiates the allegations, both the driver and the adult aide on the bus could face termination, Ivey said. Neither has been identified.

"He wants to talk with everyone," Ivey said of Stelljes. "The findings will be impartial."

The driver, in her sixth year with the district, has been reassigned during the investigation. The aide, who has worked for the district for nine years, will not ride Kyle's route.

This is at least the sixth time in 14 months in which the safety or treatment of Pinellas County students has been called into question.

Last year, two students were hit and killed by cars after bus drivers let them off on the wrong side of busy streets. Another student was hit by a car and seriously hurt after he ran out of his school.

This year, police handcuffed two other students, one aboard a bus.

As for Kyle Gerber's allegations, his father questioned whether an investigator employed by the school district could be impartial while investigating other school employees.

"The school district is paying (the investigator's) check," said Steve Gerber, 47.

There is no footage of the alleged incident because the bus' video surveillance camera had been removed about five days ago for maintenance, Ivey said.

Ivey said he was unaware of any previous discipline against Kyle but had been told the bus aide had to sit with him on a few occasions because of his behavior.

Kyle's parents said neither the school nor the driver had ever told them their son misbehaved.

In fact, Kathy Gerber said the bus aide once told her she liked to sit with her son because he could hold a conversation. His vocabulary is advanced for his age, his parents said, and he has surprised them with his memory for details.

That, they said, is why they are so confident in his account. They say he couldn't make up such details on the spot.

Besides, his father said, he believes the boy's fear is real.

"Last night he said, "Please take me to school so I don't have to be duct-taped,"' Steve Gerber recalled his son saying.

Gerber said he won't be satisfied unless the bus driver and aide are fired. He became angry when he learned the driver is still driving children.

"This bus system has failed too many parents and too many kids," he said, his voice rising. "I want justice ... want to know my son's not going to be hurt again."

Times researcher Carolyn Edds contributed to this report. Jacob H. Fries can be reached at jfries@sptimes.com or 727 445-4156.

[Last modified December 15, 2005, 00:34:03]