7-year-old with autism beaten by Lynchburg school aide, mother says

Trenika Massie is removing her son from Lynchburg City Schools

LYNCHBURG, Va. – Lynchburg police are investigating abuse allegations against a school bus aide.

The mother of a 7-year-old with autism, Trenika Massie, said video shows that aide beating her son.

Massie said it’s not the first time her son Trevelle has been abused by school employees. 

Although Massie was not given a copy of the video, she described what she saw.

“She’s hitting and then I don’t know if she is going like this, I don’t know if she is shaking him but you can see the motions of her arms and you can hear my son scream,” Massie said.

Trevell has austim and while he was having what his mom calls a "meltdown," Massie said the bus aide began beating him.

“You can hear the other kids on the bus say, ‘Aww, she is hitting him.’ Like, you can hear it,” Massie said.

Massie knew Trevelle was upset when she got him off the bus but said she was given no explanation or had any idea the alleged assault happened.

She says it wasn’t until she bathed Trevelle that night she noticed scratches and knots behind his ears.

“I asked him what happened. He said, ‘The teacher on the bus hit me,” Massie said.

That’s when this mother called the school who eventually showed her the video two days after it happened. She watched what her son tried to describe, unfold.

“She puts her knee in the seat. You see her arm go back and you hear my son screaming. You just see both her arms and my son start screaming and I had to stop watching,” Massie said.

While her attorneys couldn’t go into details, Massie says a similar incident happened earlier this school year.

When asked yesterday the school superintendent couldn’t comment on the matter.

Friday in a statement the school district said:

The Lynchburg City Schools administration recently received allegations of employee misconduct.  Lynchburg City Schools takes all allegations of employee misconduct very seriously.   The safety and security of our children is our top priority, thus each allegation is thoroughly investigated by school officials and if needed, in cooperation with the Lynchburg Police Department and Child Protective Services.

Although the administration cannot comment on the specific details of this personnel matter, we have taken the appropriate action as per our school board policy GBEZ on Standards of Conduct for Employees. 

As always, Lynchburg City Schools’ primary focus is on the health, safety, and welfare of our students and staff, and on the delivery of high-quality education to the students.

Lynchburg police confirm they are investigating what happened on that school bus.

But for now — Massie says she’s heartbroken for her son.

“I feel like I failed my son because I couldn’t protect him or help him but I didn’t know anything to help him,” Massie said 

Massie said she is removing her son from Lynchburg city schools.


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