By Doug Fletcher,Staff Writer

AUBURN – A complaint alleging that an Auburn school bus driver discriminated against a Somali boy by refusing him a ride home has been settled.

The case had been scheduled to be taken up by the Maine Human Rights Commission on Monday.

The settlement was reached Friday, said Patricia E. Ryan, the commission’s executive director. She wouldn’t disclose terms of the settlement, but said it resolves the case.

The complaint was filed by Abdiaziz Ali, the boy’s father, in March 2004. The incident happened on Oct. 30, 2003.

According to the complaint, an Auburn School Department bus driver wouldn’t let Ali’s son get on the bus at Auburn Middle School and ride to Sherwood Heights School to meet his younger sister and accompany her home.

The bus driver told the boy that “Somalis do not take this bus.”

After Ali complained to the school department about the driver’s refusal to let the boy on the bus, the driver was suspended for a day without pay, had a written reprimand placed in his personnel file and was required to attend workshops presented by Stephen Wessler, a lawyer with the Center for the Prevention of Hate and Violence.

Auburn claimed it did everything it could do in disciplining the bus driver once the complaint was brought to its attention.

A commission investigator concluded that there were reasonable grounds to believe that Ali’s son was discriminated against because of his race, color and national origin, and suggested that remedies be sought against the school department.

Eileen King, the Lewiston lawyer representing the Ali family, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.