Photo provided SHOWN HERE is Bellaire Middle School. One of the school’s students has been disciplined for assaulting others on a bus on Friday.

BELLAIRE — A violent episode on a Bellaire school bus led school officials to take disciplinary action against one student.

Bellaire Local Schools Superintendent Darren Jenkins said Tuesday that the incident occurred Friday afternoon. During the incident, which was captured on video surveillance, Jenkins said a middle school boy committed assault when he grabbed a girl by her arms and threw her against another girl on the bus several times.

Jenkins said when the bus driver realized what was happening, he radioed the transportation supervisor for assistance. Both the supervisor and teachers met the bus at the high school, where law enforcement from the Bellaire Police Department and Belmont County Sheriff’s Department also arrived.

“The situation was quickly controlled,” Jenkins said. “We have concluded our investigation at this point, and the young man who was central to instigating this assault has been disciplined. We can’t go into what the outcomes were because of FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), but the young man has been disciplined at this point.”

Without saying specifically what disciplinary action was taken in this case, Jenkins said in a situation the school could suspend or expel the student from riding the bus again.

Jenkins noted it was his understanding that the parents of one of the victims was seeking to press criminal charges against the boy via the sheriff’s department.

“It was a very violent episode. It appears the young man was trying to instigate a physical confrontation between two females. When he became unsuccessful, he became violent,” Jenkins said, noting he viewed the video surveillance captured by the camera aboard the bus.

Jenkins said he was not aware of anyone being injured during the assault. He noted another student on the bus used a cellphone to record the incident and posted it on social media, but Jenkins said he has not watched that video.

In that online video, which is very shaky at times, one can see a boy in a red shirt grabbing a girl’s arm and propelling her forward into another girl several times. Several other children appear to be standing up on the bus during the incident.

According to published reports, the mother of one of the middle school girls who was a victim in this case said she talked to the middle school principal’s secretary about past bullying on the bus by another girl. A teacher also was told, the parent said. However, apparently no action was taken.

“I am not aware of any ongoing bullying incidents occurring with any of these children. I’m not necessarily disputing what the mother said,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins said those involved in the incident can talk to the school’s mental health counselors if they want to.

Any parent or guardian who believes their child is being bullied should talk directly to their principal or guidance counselor about it, Jenkins said. If it is occurring on the bus, the child can tell the bus driver immediately.

“I want everyone to keep in mind this was a Friday afternoon when this occurred. This did not allow a lot of time for investigation. By the time it was on social media, we didn’t have to time to fully respond to it. We weren’t trying to hide anything — an investigation takes time. By Monday afternoon, the discipline had been handed out. We needed time to allow the process to work,” Jenkins added.

Jenkins noted that in such situations the school district can file criminal charges with the juvenile prosecutor regardless of whether parents choose to do so.