Poudre School District to pay $16.2 million to families of children abused by paraprofessional on school bus

The Poudre School District in Fort Collins will pay a million settlement to the families of children who accused a former employee of abuse The payment publicized Wednesday comes a year after Tyler Zanella a former paraprofessional for the district was sentenced to more than years for assaulting disabled students on school buses It is utterly incomprehensible how a school district could allow a convicted child abuser to have access to utterly helpless children in this situation stated David Lane an attorney representing the families in a comment Ultimately this governmental failure will cost the taxpayers millions of dollars and these innocent children have been severely damaged A spokesman for the Poudre School District could not directly be reached for comment Related Articles Parents sue Poudre School District over autistic students assault on a school bus Former Poudre school paraprofessional sentenced to more than years for assaulting disabled students Former Poudre School District paraprofessional pleads guilty to child abuse assault harassment Zanella was arrested in May after surveillance footage proved the paraprofessional hitting a disabled trainee on a school bus He initially faced more than charges of child abuse harassment and assault but pleaded guilty to assault on an at-risk person harassment and child abuse Zanella was hired in as a bus attendant to help with autistic elementary-aged children The district knew Zanella pleaded guilty to child abuse in according to the families lawsuit which was filed in The lawsuit alleged videos revealed Zanella ramming a child s head into a school bus window and mocking the learner Footage also exhibited Zanella hitting other children on the bus according to the lawsuit The children were between the ages of and years old at the time of the abuse Get more Colorado news by signing up for our Mile High Roundup email newsletter