Jacob Vincent Mutulo is a very precious and loved boy. He is 9 years old and has been diagnosed with Down syndrome and ADHD. The year that Jacob was born, I saw my sister die at age 45 from Multiple Myeloma, my mother have a heart attack and lose a kidney to renal cancer and my dad be diagnosed with prostate cancer. As stressful as that year was, this year was far worse.

     Jacob’s school year began as usual with a new bus driver, new teachers and new classmates. Jacob, as usual, was excited the first day of school. He loved school (there were kids there). It wasn’t long however, before I was concerned about his reported behavior, increasing aggression and yelling and shouting in class. I called Jacob’s pediatrician on September 16th with my concerns. Jacob’s medication was increased and we took him back into psychotherapy.

     Jacob’s behavior continued to deteriorate no matter what we did. I insisted on a functional behavior assessment and his IEP was reopened. We had multiple marathon meetings of three hours or more with 15 people in attendance. I was determined that Jacob have an aide to enforce and reinforce the behavior plan we had agreed upon. Finally, Jacob had an aide assigned to him and his behavior improved somewhat. His bus behavior however, only got worse. We received numerous rider ship complaints, also verbal complaints from the school about his bus behavior. In the past we had successfully used stickers to modify Jacob’s behavior on the bus. Nothing worked this year.

     It was out of that frustration that we thought of using the tape recorder. I believe that the Holy Spirit revealed that to us. We thought if we could actually hear what Jacob was doing we might have a better chance of helping him. The very morning that we had put the tape recorder in his backpack the interim principal at his school called me. She told me that Jacob’s behavior was completely unacceptable and that there was no excuse for him spitting at the bus driver.

      I called one of my friends after the call and said I didn’t know what to do anymore. I can remember crying, feeling helpless, not knowing what to do and where to turn next to help my son. He was still acting out at school and his bus behavior defied interventions. I had forgotten about the tape recorder. When Jacob came home from school, Vince and Nicolas (my step son) listened to the tape. They were shocked at what they heard. The driver was screaming at Jacob, threatening him with bodily harm and belittling him. We heard him being hit. We could hear Jacob’s tearful and fear filled responses as the driver threatened, “Do you want another one of these?!” When I got home, Vince told me I probably wouldn’t want to listen to it. I decided that since Jacob had endured it, I had to listen to it. I can’t put into words what listening to that tape did to me. I felt ill. I cried. I thought my heart would break. The realization quickly came that this had been happening to him all year long. I also came to the horrific realization that my son thought his daddy and I approved of his mistreatment. We had put him on that bus everyday, telling him to be a good boy and listen to the bus driver. Vince’s heartaches when he thinks of the times he made Jacob apologize to the bus driver for his “bad behavior”. Jacob never felt safe.

      We called the police and the investigation began. We thank God for Officer Steve Wells. He arrested Brian Duchow. We met with the Assistant District Attorney. The bus driver confessed to stopping the bus two separate times to hit Jacob. The law stated that Jacob needed “to have suffered physical harm”. The ADA wasn’t sure he would charge him with felony child abuse because he couldn’t hear Jacob cry on the tape. I could see that the law made no accommodation for children with special needs. I also knew that this man was going to be prosecuted no matter what I had to do to see that it happened. I called a reporter I knew, Tom Heinen, of the Milwaukee Journal. Tom is a man of character and integrity. I knew Tom would write the story accurately and truthfully. From there the news stations, local and national, became involved. We welcomed the coverage because we wanted changes to be made to protect Jacob and other children like him. We wanted to get the word out that cameras on school buses must be mandatory.

      Legislation will be introduced by State Representative Peggy Kruczik to make this happen. Your support and phone calls to your state representatives can make a difference in the effort to mandate having cameras on all special education buses (at a minimum), hopefully for all buses that transport children. God opened another door for us, an appearance on The John Walsh Show. John Walsh is a very wonderful person and a dedicated, committed child advocate. He has pledged his support and the resources of the Missing and Exploited Children’s Center and The Adam Walsh Resource Center for legislative change. Jacob loved New York as we visited several child friendly places while we were there and as usual he made friends wherever he went. I think that one of the worst revelations that came to light was that another parent whose son rides on Jacob’s bus had witnessed Jacob being abused by the bus driver. She had reported it at her son’s IEP meeting on January 21st, 2003. Not one of the seven mandatory reporters (those required by law to report even a suspicion of child abuse) reported it. No one lifted a phone to call us. The whole system failed Jacob. We are determined to see that this never happens again. Jacob suffered 4 more months needlessly.

     We have started a trust fund in Jacob’s name, “Jacob’s Fund”. The purpose of the trust is to increase our children’s safety through education, mentoring, raising public awareness and advocating for legislative change. I believe that a parent armed with the best information possible makes the best advocate for their child. Rather than providing an advocate, we hope to provide the mentoring and education to make parent advocates effective and successful. Public awareness must be raised. As I mentioned earlier, the law regarding abuse makes no accommodation for children (or adults) with special needs. The law needs to incorporate a parent or guardians right to audio or videotape unmonitored periods of time that someone spends with their child. We need tougher sentences for those who abuse children or who fail to protect them as required by law. The bottom line in all of this is that we love our son and want to see some positive outcomes from this horrendous situation. If we have anything to say about it, this will never happen to another child. Children need our protection, whether they are our own or not. When it comes to children, we are our brother’s keeper. Keep us in your prayers. We have a long, difficult journey ahead of us. Thankfully God goes before us, our trust is in Him.      Vince, Rosemary, and Jacob Mutulo