The Joshua School named in new Colorado lawsuit filed by families of students abused by Littleton bus aide

The families of three nonverbal students who were physically abused by a bus aide while traveling to school in Colorado have filed a lawsuit against their children's former school.

The lawsuit alleges The Joshua School, which serves students with autism and other disabilities, failed to report suspected abuse as required under the state's mandatory reporting laws.

For 12-year-old Dax Vestal, spending time outdoors is what his mother calls a good day.

"He loves to be outside. If it were up to him, he would live outside with no shoes on," his mother, Jessica Vestal, said.

She said those good days became harder to find two years ago, when Dax began coming home from school with unexplained injuries.

"Dax came home covered in bruises -- on the back of his arm, on his thighs. It looked like he had been put through a dryer or something."

Vestal later discovered surveillance videos showing a bus aide, Kiarra Jones, physically abusing Dax and other children while transporting them to and from The Joshua School. Jones later faced criminal charges and pleaded guilty.

 Vestal said the abuse was not only a failure of the aide, but a failure of the school.

"The Joshua School is who we communicated with daily," she said.

A lawsuit filed by the Vestal family and the families of two other students alleges the school and staff members failed to properly report concerns of abuse. Instead, the complaint claims the school attempted to conduct its own investigation.

According to the lawsuit, staff members told parents their children's injuries were the result of self-injurious behavior. At the same time, internal messages cited in the complaint allegedly show staff acknowledged the injuries were likely caused by someone else.

One message cited in the lawsuit states, "I mean that's definitely from someone grabbing him."

"It is their legal job to report any suspected or unusual injuries, and they did not do that," Vestal said. "I've talked to numerous mandatory reporters -- teachers, paraprofessionals, staff -- who say they can't understand why no one called this in. That's a huge failure."

Under Colorado law, teachers and school staff are mandatory reporters of suspected child abuse.

"When we talk about Colorado's child abuse reporting law, if you have reasonable cause to believe a child has been abused, sexually abused or neglected, you are required to make the call," said Stephane Villafuerte, Colorado's child protection ombudsman. "People have two options -- calling the state's child abuse hotline or law enforcement."

Villafuerte said changes to the law that took effect in September were designed to reduce confusion among mandatory reporters, clarifying a 24 hour reporting deadline and who is responsible for making the call.

"In the past, the statute was silent, and large institutions would tell employees to report concerns to a supervisor, who would then decide whether to call," Villafuerte said. "Now the law is very clear -- a mandatory reporter cannot delegate that duty to someone else."

Villafuerte is hopeful the changes will improve reporting going forward.

Those changes, though, come too late for Vestal.

"I was given a lot of wrong answers that I didn't know were wrong by people I trusted," she said. "I trusted the paraprofessionals, the staff at the school, people in the district -- and none of them were telling me the truth."

The families did also file a lawsuit against Littleton Public Schools, which was responsible for hiring Jones. Attorneys for the families said a tentative settlement has been reached, pending school board approval.

Following the airing of CBS Colorado's report, the Joshua School released the following statement to CBS Colorado:

"Nothing is more important to us than the safety and well-being of our students. We are heartbroken and outraged over how a certain student was treated by a Littleton Public School District (District) employee while aboard a Littleton Public School District school
bus, and in the care and physical custody of the District.
Although the students were enrolled at The Joshua School, their transportation and associated care to and from school were provided by and overseen by the Littleton Public School District through a contracted agreement between their families and the Littleton Public School District.
Each Littleton Public School District school bus transporting students to The Joshua School had a driver and a bus aide, who were hired and supervised by the District; Each bus was also equipped with video cameras that the Littleton Public School District could use to observe, supervise, and monitor its employees. The Joshua School does not have access to the bus video or activities that occur on the bus.
We stand by our teachers and staff who have dedicated their lives to caring for and serving our students. They are passionate about our students and committed to each student's safety and well-being.
Due to the ongoing litigation, we are unable to provide more information at this time."