LANSING, Mich. — A Dean Transportation employee is on leave Monday, in connection with a 13 year-old student's suicide.
The employee was placed on leave for failing to return calls from a mother concerned about her son getting bullied on the school bus. That student eventually committed suicide.
Dean Transportation released a statement expressing its deepest sympathies to the student and his family and friends.
The student's name was Michael Martin, an 8th grader in the Everett New Tech High School Magnet Program.
He committed suicide in January after complaints of being bullied on the bus and at school.
Dean Transportation said Martin's mother called the company's liaison with the Lansing school district in early to mid January.
That employee did not return her voicemails, and has been placed on leave pending the results of an internal investigation.
Dean said it review video of some of the seven-to-nine minute bus rides Martin took to school and interviewed the driver.
The company's statement said the driver, "did not indicate any negative interaction between Michael Martin and his peers."
Full Statement:
"The Dean Transportation family expresses our deepest sympathies to Michael Martin's family and friends.
We have been in full cooperation with the Lansing School District and local law enforcement to assist with investigating the events prior to his passing. As soon as we learned that phone calls from Michael's mother were not returned by our district liaison, we immediately placed that person on a leave of absence pending the results of our own internal investigation.
Review of the on-bus video indicates that Michael's rides averaged between seven and nine minutes, and interviews with the driver did not indicate any negative interaction between Michael and his peers. We are working to ensure all possible steps can be taken in the future to help prevent similar situations.
Dean has reinforced promptness of response and follow-up to concerns with all employees, which was already part of the training and expectations of supervisors and office staff. Dean is also developing standardized tools for receipt and tracking of all student incidents. In addition, Dean have been active participants in the Attorney General's OK-2-SAY anti-bullying program."
To learn more about that program, click the link Michigan OK2SAY
The Lansing School District is not commenting on this story.
Lansing police investigated and no criminal charges were filed.
We have filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the report. We'll have an update once we have it.
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