Woman says school district required her to pay $600 to see video of daughter being bullied on bus

DALLAS — A Texas woman who says her 5-year-old child was physically attacked on a school bus had to pay the school district to see the evidence.

Audrey Billings told WFAA that her daughter complained about other students hurting her on the 45-minute bus ride home Nov. 11. The bus carries students from other schools, including older students, according to WFAA.

Billings followed up with the Dallas Independent School District. She was given a verbal account of the bullying incident, but was told that she’d have to pay $600 to have the surveillance video from the school bus redacted, CNN reported.

In the video that Billings paid for, the woman’s daughter is seen being attacked by up to three older students. The girl is pushed, grabbed and put in a choke-hold by the other students, WFAA reported. The girl calls out to the bus driver for assistance but is ignored, according to the video that Billings viewed.

A Dallas Independent School District spokesperson told WFAA that the students involved in the bullying incident were disciplined and that the bus driver was moved to another route.

But Billings doesn’t feel that the school district did enough to address the incident. She wants the bus driver fired, according to the WFAA report. She also wants the school district to overhaul its bullying policy.

Billings said her daughter no longer rides the school bus.

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