ClarksvilleNow.com Reporting
news@clarksvillenow.com
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – A woman in Clarksville is facing charges after a confrontation broke out on a bus full of elementary schoolchildren.
A video from the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System (CMCSS) shows Kela Hand, 22, entering the bus on the morning of April 25 to confront a child who she believed had hit her stepdaughter in the mouth.
Hand can be seen grabbing the 7-year-old while threatening him and the other children and using profanity.
The bus driver attempted to stop Hand and her partner, the mother of the child, from getting on the bus. The boy is shown screaming and crying while Hand attempted to take him off the bus. She can be heard saying she is going to “**** him up” and when the boy says he is going to tell his mom, she replied, “Go ahead. I will **** her up too!”
Throughout the video, six adults walked past the driver to get on the bus, some of whom seemed to be checking on their children, and others who were arguing with the children about who started the fight.
Hand was charged with two counts of assault and one count of disorderly conduct. She was also banned from school property at St. Bethlehem Elementary School.
According to CMCSS policy, parents are not permitted to be on a school bus.
Elise Shelton, Chief Communications Officer with CMCSS said the bus driver, Connie Pritzl, was suspended for a week without pay. She has been reassigned to a new position with the school system as a driver for the child nutrition truck.
“Adults without school system status should not ever get on our school buses,” Shelton said. “The driver did some things right, but there are a few things we wish she did differently, and we don’t think she is equipped to handle this in the future. We have to have people who will stand up for our children and protect them.”
See the video below:
Kela Hand/MCSO