Broken Arrow Public Schools addresses bus altercation: 'We are working with all parties involved'

Broken Arrow schools are working to address an incident involving a bus full of students.

A video posted online shows an assault on one student by another, with other students walking by or filming the incident. In the video, one of the female students appears to be attacking the other over a perceived comment made by the other.

The students have not been identified, but a district representative said law enforcement was notified.

Broken Arrow School policy shows that assault, broadcasting such an incident, conduct that threatens the safety of others, fighting, bullying and unsafe activity on a bus can lead to long-term suspensions, in-school suspension, in-school consequences and alternative program placements.

Here is the district's response to the video:

Q: What is being done to address this incident?

A: “The behavior that we saw in that video is completely unacceptable. It will be tolerated in Broken Arrow public schools, either on our busses or in our classrooms, because our busses are an extension of that classroom, and so our team has worked both at the site level and within the Transportation Department to assess consequences to all of the students that you can see in that video who are not operating according to our Student Code of Conduct.”

Q: Why didn’t the bus driver intervene?

A: “So the bus driver responded, from what we can see so far, as well as he could have in the situation, he was in the middle of a stop where students were crossing an active street. That particular stop was on 51st street where there are no shoulders. And when the incident happened, we were already in the middle of students disembarking the bus. So the stop sign was out, the lights were going, and he has a legal responsibility to stay in that seat and make eye contact with those students as they're crossing an active Street. As soon as the stop was over, he pulled to a safe location where he could get up and then go to the back of the bus and address the situation. “

Q: What should students do if they witness something like this?

A: “We would never tell a student to intervene in a fight, because that could put them in a situation where they could be harmed too. The best thing they can do is alert the adult, the nearest adult in that situation. In this case, it was the driver, but it took a little while for someone to alert the driver of what was going on. It happened to be a student who was leaving the bus that alerted the driver.”

Q: When were parents notified of the incident?

A: An email dated 03/10/25 was sent to Centennial Middle School parents around lunchtime.

Video Posted Online

District's Statement

"A student altercation occurred on one of our school buses on the afternoon of March 4. The appropriate authorities, including law enforcement, were notified. We are working closely with all parties involved to address the situation and assign disciplinary consequences. The parents of the victim are working with BAPD, and since this is an active police investigation, we are unable to provide further details at this time."

The district representative stated that due to student privacy laws, they could not share what disciplinary actions had been taken against the student or those filming instead of intervening but did provide a link to the Broken Arrow Student Handbook.