Protesters Hold School Board Accountable for Deaths of Students

The school district will form a task force to look at its policies and procedures regarding students with special needs.

Protesters Hold School Board Accountable for Deaths of Students

The school district will form a task force to look at its policies and procedures regarding students with special needs.

Eleven months after the death of Sessums Elementary School second-grader Bella Herrera, Katharine Bower of Riverview still tears up when she talks about the 7-year-old girl. "She was so sweet. It just breaks my heart. She didn't have to die," said Bower, who joined other parents and concerned residents Thursday afternoon on the steps of the Hillsborough County School District headquarters to protest the deaths of two Riverview students while in the care of the school district. Herrera, who had muscular dystrophy, died in January after she was found choking on a Hillsborough County school bus. Her parents have filed a lawsuit against the school district, saying the girl, who was bound to a wheelchair, was not properly restrained to keep her…

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