My Daughter The Bully

I had a meeting with the principals of the grade and middle/high school yesterday. As far as the bus driver goes, they are saying that he has a contract and the board will be reviewing his contract in May. They are also (board) the only ones who can do anything about him (terminate, suspend, etc) but by the time they next meet, there will only be 2 weeks left of the school year so... As far as the attack itself, the elementary principal says she looked into it and got a totally different story. She says that the incident started with my 6 year old pulling on the jacket of the oldest kid (6th grade), then she crawled under the seat which is how she got dirty. And, that Dani said that no one hurt her. We pushed that her story has always been pulled under, kicked and stepped on. Also pointed out that she has bruises to back up her version and when the incident happened she had muddy footprints on her. The final result seemed to be that they are still looking into it, but that Dani was the instigator and until they know for sure what happened, no one can be punished. If a clear understanding is reached, then they will decide appropriate punishments for the 4 kids involved (yep, Dani may be up for punishment for bullying the 6th grader if we pursue this!) To say I am outraged is an understatement. I have never seen a greater series of injutices being carried out. Also, the overall meeting felt very hostile. I don't feel like we were treated the same way other parents would have been. I came out feeling more like a scolded employee than a parent with a problem. Also, yesterday I found the mother of the oldest child involved because I got the impression that we were the only parent concerned with this incident. Until I showed up, no one at all had contacted her! Not even her son had told her about the incident or being questioned on Monday. Seriously, any time my child does anything, someone calls me. I report a violent attack on my daughter and no parents need to be contacted! I know this may sound crazy, but I cannot let this just drop. I know that I have provided a safer situation for my daughter for now (by getting her bus reassigned) but we all know if these kids aren't reprimanded for this incident, things will get worse. Today, I placed a call to our State Department of Education and hope to hear back from someone who can do something to resolve this. I do plan to address the school board when they meet on May 9 regarding the bus driver and the complete lack of concern for what happened on the bus. It really is no wonder kids take such drastic measures on themselves and others to get away from the bullies. Otherwise, no one takes it seriously or does anything to stop it!