LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The Clark County School District could pay nearly $10 million to the family of a child sexually assaulted by a bus driver, and a million dollars to students a CCSD police officer slammed to the ground.
The district’s board of trustees will consider settling three lawsuits that could cost taxpayers $13 million. It is listed as a consent agenda item on the school board’s agenda for Thursday, meaning trustees won’t discuss it in public unless one of them motions to have the topic talked about in public.
But CCSD has forked over tens of millions more in the past few months, including paying a child injured in a school bus crash.
8 News Now obtained video of the school bus crash through a public records request, which occurred on Jan. 31, 2023.
The school bus was driving down Lamb Blvd. filled with children, including an 8 year-old at the time. Surveillance video from inside the school bus showed the bus waiting to turn into a private road, but then makes a left turn causing a three-vehicle crash.
According to court documents filed on Jan. 8, CCSD paid a student who was strapped to a wheelchair $25,000. The child went to the emergency room and was treated for minor injuries.
The Las Vegas Metro Police Department cited the bus driver and said they were at fault.
But a $25,000 check pales in comparison to three settlements trustees will vote on Thursday.
CCSD’s agenda showed the district is looking to pay $9.6 million to the family of a child sexually assaulted by Michael Banco. The former school bus driver was sentenced to life in prison in 2018.
The child Banco assaulted was three years old at the time. CCSD has already paid $18 million to Banco’s victims.
Another lawsuit CCSD’s trustees will vote on involves paying a total of $1 million to two Durango High School students. Cellphone video captured a CCSDPD officer in Feb. 9, 2023 slamming a student to the ground.
Following an internal investigation, the district’s police department cleared the officer of any wrongdoing and the school district later said the video showed no person’s rights were violated.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, who represented the two Durango High students, disagreed.
“There was no firearm on any of our clients, this was a BS justification to stop and accost children,” Athar Haseebullah, executive director of the ACLU, said last year.
The final lawsuit trustees are looking to settle on Thursday is for $2 million. Court documents showed it has to do with a protected person’s education.
Administrators revealed at a school board meeting last October, CCSD had already spent $53 million in the current fiscal year to settle lawsuits.
The district has a policy of not commenting on pending litigation.
