NORTHAMPTON — There is reasonable cause to believe that while in the care of Van Pool Transportation — the Wilbraham-based company that Northampton Public Schools contracts with for special education students’ transportation — two students, the youngest of whom was in elementary school, were neglected, a Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) investigation concluded.
A parent of one of the students provided the Gazette with a partially-redacted version of a report, which detailed the investigation. The report said security footage showed the Van Pool bus monitor tasked with watching the students not intervening to stop inappropriate contact between the two students.
In its conclusion, DCF stated that it “supported” the allegations of neglect of both children on the van, a decision that at least one parent of one of the students was notified of in a Sept. 9 letter.
Investigation decisions of support are one of three possible DCF investigation outcomes — support, substantiated concern and unsupport — and mean there is “reasonable cause to believe a child(ren) was abused and/or neglected,” according to DCF. A DCF spokesperson said an agency investigation had been completed and was unable to provide any further details, saying that, legally, the outcomes of an investigation are confidential.
As part of its investigation, DCF conducted interviews with sources including staff from Van Pool and Northampton Public Schools. A review of the security videos, which documents several of the students’ rides, found that the monitor allowed “extensive inappropriate contact between the two children and making no attempt to redirect or stop the behavior,” the report states. The reviewer noted that, in more than one instance, the monitor could not be seen directly witnessing certain physical interactions but overall “appeared to be well aware of physical contact between the children. She repeatedly reacted with smiles or laughs, indicating she was aware of contact between the students and did not believe it was problematic.”
The report concludes that there is “reasonable cause” to believe that the two students were neglected while in the care of Van Pool. “Both children were placed at risk of significant emotional harm when they were allowed to have extended inappropriate contact with each other during school transports,” it states, adding that the harm was “immediately evident” in an interview with one of the students.
The report also flagged another concern — that the monitor allowed one of the two students to sit turned around in their seat and wear their seatbelt incorrectly while traveling on the highway.
Van Pool is appealing the decision, the company wrote in an Oct. 9 statement sent to the Gazette through an outside communications firm. The company said it takes safety seriously and trains its team in behavior management and assessment and to observe students. “We regard transporting each of our students every school day as a great responsibility, and we are committed to delivering superior service,” the statement reads.
In a second statement, dated Oct. 18, the company said that the student interaction “was not appropriately addressed by the monitor in accordance with our company training programs, policies, and practices. As a result, Van Pool has terminated the employee and is working with our team to bring a heightened awareness to this important area of our safety and training programs.”
On Sept. 10, Northampton Public Schools re-signed a three-year, $2.25 million contract with Van Pool for transportation of students who receive special education services as well as those who do not, according to the document provided by the district. Superintendent John Provost said he was unable to comment on the allegations, citing privacy concerns.
Greta Jochem can be reached at gjochem@gazettenet.com.