Pennridge School District is sued over a bus driver who sexually abused a special-needs student

The family of a young woman with special needs who was sexually abused by a bus driver during van rides to school in 2015 has sued the Pennridge School District, alleging it failed to protect her.

The lawsuit, filed Jan. 13 in the Montgomery County Court, alleges Pennridge was negligent in hiring and supervising James McIntyre, who pleaded guilty in 2016 to molesting two special-needs students.

At the time McIntyre was abusing the then-14-year-old, he had been a Pennridge bus driver for more than 10 years and had already molested the first student. He “had a reputation for acting inappropriately with female students with special needs,” according to the lawsuit.

Asked whether Pennridge knew of the first victim’s abuse, Stewart Ryan, a lawyer for the woman’s family, said the Bucks County district “knew or should have known” that McIntyre “was a risk to children for a variety of reasons.”

A spokesperson for the district said Tuesday that it had not yet fully reviewed the lawsuit and couldn’t comment on its allegations.

But “immediately after learning of this matter in January of 2016, the district took prompt action and cooperated with the relevant authorities,” Pennridge spokesperson Kallie Cooper said. “The former employee never returned to the district after allegations regarding his illegal conduct were first reported to the district.”

The lawsuit, which does not identify the family, said the abuse occurred during van rides between the teenager’s home in Bucks County and the Vanguard School in Malvern, where she had been placed as a result of her cognitive impairment and autism. Pennridge had a contract with a nonprofit, Valley Forge Educational Services, to enroll the girl in the private school and provided transportation as part of the arrangement.

During the van rides, the girl was in the front seat, according to the lawsuit.

From the beginning of the school year in 2015 through winter break, McIntyre — who had been driving the girl for several years — touched her inappropriately, exposed himself, and had her touch him, according to the lawsuit. It said the abuse often took place while McIntyre was stopped at traffic lights, including on Route 63 in Montgomery County — which is why the suit was filed in that county.

McIntyre told the girl what he had done to the prior victim, to make her believe what he was doing was “acceptable and normal,” the lawsuit said.

In December 2015 or January 2016, the lawsuit said, the girl told her mother McIntyre was touching her inappropriately, and her mother contacted law enforcement. McIntyre admitted to the abuse, according to the lawsuit. McIntyre was sentenced to state prison. He was released on parole in February 2020, according to state records.

People with special needs are particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse, the lawsuit said. It cited an NPR report and U.S. Department of Justice data showing that, between 2011 and 2015, people with intellectual disabilities were seven times more likely to be sexually assaulted than those without such disabilities.

The lawsuit accuses Pennridge of negligence in screening and supervising employees, and contends the district failed to adopt or follow adequate policies for the “protection and reasonable supervision of students.”

Safety measures could have included security cameras or a second aide in the van, said Ryan, the family’s lawyer.

After McIntyre’s arrest, the lawsuit alleges, a Pennridge official told the girl’s parents the district had considered installing cameras in vehicles like McIntyre’s, but “ultimately determined the endeavor was cost-prohibitive.”