Feb 25, 2009 10:43 am US/Central
Driver Fired After Indiana School Bus Terror
3 Boys Were Charged In Sexual Batteries In Portage, Ind.
PORTAGE, Ind. (Post-Tribune) ―
School officials won't comment on the firing of a bus driver who drove while
numerous alleged sexual batteries took place on his bus, but the man's wife is defending him.
The Portage Township School Board voted Monday to terminate bus driver Terry Burch.
Burch, 68, was the driver of the bus on which three teens allegedly sexually harassed other students.
Two 17-year-old boys and one 16-year-old boy are in detention waiting for a hearing to determine whether they should be tried as adults on charges that include sexual battery, attempted sexual battery and intimidation.
Burch, a grandfather of five, was joined by more than a dozen other bus drivers, who "spoke, stood up and clapped for him" at the board meeting, his wife said. She asked that her name not be used.
She argued the school administration does not have all the facts.
The charges stem from a Feb. 6 incident when, police say, one of the boys dropped his pants and another tried to shove the face of a 16-year-old girl into the boy's groin. The girl called her stepfather, who met the bus at the next stop and filed a police report.
Further investigation showed the harassment allegedly had been going on since almost the start of the school year.
School Board members did not return calls Tuesday.
The United Steelworkers union represents the district bus drivers. Jim Robinson, District 7 director of the USW, said members, as a policy, cannot comment on individual grievances.
The hearing for the 16-year-old is scheduled for March 11. The 17-year-old boys' next hearing is scheduled for March 16.
(CBS 2 and the Post-Tribune are news partners covering stories in the communities of northwest Indiana. Send story tips to tips@cbs2chicago.com. (© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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