JCPS bus driver resigns after investigation into how she handled student fight

A Jefferson County Public School bus driver announced her resignation Friday, one week after an assault that left a student with two black eyes broke out on her bus.

On Sept. 6, a student on the bus driven by Lillian Dixon attacked another student. A video of the incident taken by a third student who was on the bus shows the attacking student striking the 12-year-old victim nearly 40 times, stomping on him and proceeding to remove his belt to use in the fight, The Courier Journal previously reported.

In a 15-minute-long video she posted on Facebook Friday, Dixon said she has resigned from her position as a JCPS bus driver. She also apologized to Whitney Davis, the victim's mother, and outlined her recollection of the series of events.

"I want to say to the mother of this child, of this victim that went through it, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I didn't work hard enough," Dixon said in the video.

JCPS sidelined Dixon from driving while incident was under investigation, district spokesperson Carolyn Callahan previously told The Courier Journal. Dixon said in her video that district officials told her she could either resign or face termination following the investigation.

JCPS policy requires bus drivers to "project their voices" and tell students to stop when a fight begins on a bus. Drivers are then supposed to pull over and contact the bus compound about the fight, where the police will be called if necessary, Callahan said.

In her video, Dixon said she was driving her route when she noticed students on the bus becoming rowdy. She reacted by telling the students to sit down and not to fight. The fight erupted shortly after.

She told the students to stop fighting, but she doesn't think the students heard her amid yells from other passengers, she said. The bus's radio was not functional at the time, she claimed. She pulled into a nearby parking lot, but the fight had ended by the time the bus was parked.

She then drove the bus back to Kammerer Middle School, where she originally picked the students up from, and the victim got off the bus.

Callahan said all students "involved in the situation will be disciplined in accordance with the Student Support and Behavior Intervention Handbook."

Davis said her son, who she claims has endured bullying that was not handled effectively by school officials, has unenrolled from Kammerer Middle School. She also filed a police report with the district's police department, after taking her son to the emergency room.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: JCPS bus driver resigns after student fight breaks out on bus