Bus Monitor Accused of Hitting Special Needs Boy

NAPERVILLE, IL — A bus monitor has been accused of slapping and hitting an 8-year-old special needs boy.

Joyce F. Jones, a 68-year-old Bolingbrook resident, has been charged with aggravated battery after she allegedly struck the boy when he spit in her face the afternoon of April 6.

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Talking to the Chicago Tribune, Jones said she did not hit him.

“I took my hand and kind of rubbed it over his mouth (after he) spit deliberately in my face, and I barely touched his mouth,” according to the article.

Jones said the whole incident is the worst thing that ever happened to her, adding that no one is talking to her and she is practically a pariah.

According to a complaint obtained by the Tribune, Jones slapped the boy in the mouth and hit him on his arm several times.

Naperville Police Cmdr. Jason Arres said the child's mom reported the incident to police, which sparked the investigation. Arres also confirmed there were cameras that caught Jones' alleged actions.

The boy is a third-grade student at Patterson Elementary School in Naperville. Indian Prairie School District 204 Superintendent Karen Sullivan said in a statement that a parent notified district officials in April over concerns about her son’s bus ride home.

“The student was riding the bus with a First Student bus monitor and a First Student driver. No other students were on the bus,” Sullivan said.

Jones was an employee of First Student, which provides transportation for the district. Administrators contacted First Student and found that Jones acted inappropriately and displayed aggressive behavior toward the student.

“Administrators immediately requested that both the First Student monitor and driver be removed from all District 204 bus routes and subsequently First Student terminated the employees,” Sullivan said.