Bus driver put on administrative leave after incident with student

A Cedar Rapids school bus driver has been placed on administrative leave while the school district investigates a parent's allegation that he assaulted her 11-year-old son.

Felicia Kennedy-Morris, mother of Arthur Elementary fourth-grader Abu Gasaway, said her son's hand was injured when bus driver Keith Jensen “slammed” him from one seat into another on April 22. She said Abu had his hands on the window, and Jensen came to the back to move him.

In an e-mail, Cedar Rapids Community Schools spokeswoman Marcia Hughes said the bus driver - she did not name him - is on administrative leave and the episode is under investigation. She could not be reached for further comment.

Counselor Jerry Davenport witnessed what happened, according to Kennedy-Morris, but Davenport referred questions to Hughes.

Kennedy-Morris has asked police to press charges against the bus driver.

She has a litany of complaints against Arthur Elementary and transportation officials at the school district, but without a fuller explanation of what happened from both sides of the issue, there's not much to report.

She filed a complaint saying she wasn't called after the incident or after her daughter Angelena had trouble on a different occasion with a bus driver.

Arthur Principal Bill Utterback wrote a response saying Kennedy-Morris called him 10 minutes after he learned of the incident. He thought the earlier problem for Angelena had been resolved by Ray Gongwer, a safety and training supervisor for the district.