MACEDON, N.Y. (WROC) — The Gananda Central School District is supporting one of its transportation workers after a physical and verbal confrontation involving a parent.

“I believe the parent was upset about the fact that we require masks,” said Gananda Superintendent Shawn Van Scoy. “There’s actually a little bit more to that, which is actually startling to most parents. I can’t go into detail because it involves a student there, but it is stunning that something would occur that would involve a student.”

Van Scoy said the district does allow students with an exemption from a doctor to bypass the mask requirement, “but everyone needs to wear a mask unless that have that exemption.”

“It’s hard to find good transportation workers,” Van Scoy said. “They just want to pick kids up and take them to where they need to go. They’re not looking to argue with anyone or engage. This is very disheartening that this would happen to one of our staff, and we will support them. We want them to be safe.”

Police have not yet released details about the alleged confrontation. Van Scoy could not share specific information due to student involvement.

First and foremost, the safety of our students and our staff is always our main priority, and we take it very seriously. Unfortunately today a parent physically engaged a member of our transportation team while that staff member was simply trying to do their job. We will support our staff in all measures concerning their safety. Our transportation staff are hardworking, dedicated employees, and it is inappropriate that anyone would physically engage with them while they’re doing their job. Under no circumstance should any of our staff members be physically or verbally attacked, and if an incident does rise to the level of a crime, we will support the filing of a police report.

Gananda Central School District statement

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.