A Natick family is taking the town and its school transportation providers to court, claiming their 5-year-old daughter was indecently assaulted by an older student during a ride on a school bus and that the adults in charge failed to protect her. The lawsuit seeks $1 million and says the child suffered both emotional and physical harm as a result of the alleged assault.
As reported by MetroWest Daily News, the complaint, filed this week, names the Town of Natick, a bus driver, and the company that provides transportation services for Natick Public Schools. It seeks $1,000,000 in damages and alleges the assault occurred aboard a school bus in Natick, with the family pursuing claims of negligence and failure to supervise.
What the suit alleges
The lawsuit describes what the child allegedly experienced on the bus and claims adults responsible for student safety missed warning signs or did not respond in a way that would have prevented additional harm. The family is asking for compensation tied to medical care, therapy, and other costs they connect to the reported assault and its aftermath.
District rules and who’s responsible
Natick Public Schools’ transportation policy states that the district may contract out transportation services and that bus drivers have authority over student conduct while on the bus. It also notes that the district and its contractors must follow state regulations and contract terms. The district’s bus manual details driver responsibilities, procedures for handling student misconduct, and the superintendent’s role in setting routes and overseeing transportation, as outlined in Natick Public Schools materials.
Context: recent bus-safety cases in Massachusetts
The Natick filing comes amid broader scrutiny of school transportation in Massachusetts after several troubling incidents. Earlier this year, CBS Boston reported on a case in Grafton in which a school bus driver was arrested on kidnapping-related charges after allegedly leaving assigned routes and tampering with bus cameras, raising fresh concerns about oversight and monitoring.
In Boston’s Hyde Park neighborhood, a separate fatal bus crash that led to an indictment this year prompted citywide reviews of driver training, vehicle certification, and the use of cameras on school buses, according to NBC Boston. Together, those cases have fueled ongoing debate about how closely school buses are supervised across the state.
Legal outlook
The Natick case is a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages. A civil complaint does not, on its own, decide whether any criminal laws were broken. Under Massachusetts law, indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 is a criminal offense, with penalties set out in state statute M.G.L. c.265 § 13B, as listed by Justia. Any criminal investigation or prosecution would be handled separately by law enforcement and the criminal courts…