Family asking Provo City School District for apology after daughter wearing hijab singled out on bus

RNA - A Provo family wants an apology from Provo City School District after they said their daughter was singled out on a bus for her religious clothing.

Janna Bakeer, a 15-year-old freshman who attends Timpview High School, tried to ride a bus home on Dec. 2 when the bus driver used the bus’s intercom system and said, “Hey you with the blue hair thingie, get off the bus, you don’t belong here,” according Randall Spencer, the family’s lawyer. Bakeer is Muslim and wears a hijab.

“She was mortified,” Spencer said. “She got up and got off the bus and was left in the cold parking lot for an hour and a half until her parents could make arrangements to get her.”

Spencer said Janna’s parents went to the school and spoke to the principal. He said the principal was understanding and that he would resubmit her name to the list for the bus.

On Friday, Janna tried to take the bus again. Spencer said the bus driver said Janna couldn’t get on the bus and put her arm out to block Janna from boarding.

“The bus driver didn’t even know Janna’s name, we don’t think, and could not have checked or known she was not on the list to ride the bus,” Spencer said. “All the bus driver knew is that she didn’t know her before and she is a Muslim wearing a hijab.”

Caleb Price, spokesman for the Provo City School District, said students can only ride their assigned buses and that the girl was assigned to a different one from the one she boarded.

“She was asked to get off the bus because she’s not assigned to the bus,” Price said.

He said there’s an investigation into the incident and that the district wants to talk and work with the family.

“From what we can see in our investigation, there was nothing discriminatory about the school bus driver’s behavior,” Price said.

Spencer said Janna’s been riding the same bus route since she was in middle school, with different bus drivers. Her parents typically drive her to school and she occasionally rides the bus. He said even if she didn’t board the right bus, singling someone out by their religious clothing is wrong.

“The way Janna describes it, it wasn’t just the words, it was the meanness in the tone that was used towards her that was just shocking to her,” Spencer said.

In addition to an apology, Spencer said the Bakeer family, who moved from Houston to Provo in 2012, love the area and have been treated well by locals, would like the district to do sensitivity training.

“I don’t believe that a young girl that was not wearing a hijab would have been treated the same way,” he said.

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