School bus fight leads to harassment charges against elementary school student

PITTSBURGH — A school bus altercation occurred that was apparently so bad, one mom will not let her son return to Pittsburgh Public’s Faison Art Academy.

“He’s not the only one being bullied here, and it needs to stop,” said Donnance Castaphony, a parent of a fifth grader at Faison Art Academy.

Castophony’s 11-year-old son has autism, and she says he is being bullied at his elementary school. She’s now filed charges of harassment against his classmate after an incident last month in which the classmate got off at his bus stop.

“The young man jumped on my son’s back, pushing him all in the mud. The bus driver is a little elderly, so two neighbors came out and broke it up,” said Castaphony.

The district, however, told us that wasn’t bullying but a mutual fight, and instead offered mediation.

In a statement, Pittsburgh Public Schools shared the following:

“Pittsburgh Faison administration has attempted to schedule mediation meetings between two students after both were involved in a mutual fight ... based on evidence, the incident was not a bullying issue,” said Ebony Pugh, the Director of Public Relations for PPS.

Donnance said her family has also been threatened by the student.

“The threats were bad,” said Castaphony.

Those alleged threats led her to not allow her son to return to school.

“Why would an 11-year-old tell us that his dad was going to shoot up my house?,” questioned Castophony.

After hearing those threats, Castophony went to the school but said what she found there was even more concerning.

“No incident reports,” she said.

According to Castophony, the school also shared there was no monitor or camera on the bus at the time of the incident.

“They wouldn’t fix the situation as far as the classroom, but they did change his bus,” said Castophony.

The district confirmed her son now rides a different van.

Castophony said that wasn’t good enough, and after asking for more to be done, she said she was asked to leave the school and not come back.

“I didn’t do anything wrong to be banned from here, but I need him back in school,” said Castophony.

Channel 11 asked the district about the ban, and they confirmed they asked her not to return after a meeting became heated. The harassment case has a court date coming up in April, and Castophony’s fifth grader has still not returned to school after more than 30 days.

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