BARTOW —The Polk County School District found that a bus driver accused of telling a student he and his two moms are going to hell did not explicitly talk about heaven and hell with the boy, but did talk about religion and distribute religious literature.

Superintendent Jacqueline Byrd reported to the School Board on Tuesday that the investigation, which included a review of video from the bus, found no evidence that bus driver Violeta Jacobo told Nathaly Encarnacion's second-grader that he and his two moms are going to hell.

"Furthermore, Jacobo did not ever state or mention heaven or hell to the student," Byrd said. "Ms. Jacobo did violate School Board policy. She gave the student religious literature and did engage in religious conversation with the student. She has received disciplinary action."

Jacobo received one day of unpaid suspension, according to Tony Kirk, director of employee relations.

Jacobo was hired Aug. 31, 2012, and is paid $12.25 an hour.

Byrd said the district asked Encarnacion to allow the video to be released, but she declined.

"We have elected to not have the video released to the public in order to limit our family's continued exposure to this traumatic event," Encarnacion told The Ledger on Tuesday. "Although the bus driver does not explicitly mention the words 'heaven' or 'hell' in the video, she did, however, intentionally and unnecessarily start a religious conversation after my son mentioned that he has two moms.

"The bus driver proceeded to tell my son that 'God does not like that' — a comment that my son interpreted as 'going to hell,'" she added. "The bus driver's actions are unacceptable and have absolutely no place in our education system."

Encarnacion's son missed his regular bus home from Alta Vista Elementary in February and took a different bus that day. Jacobo was the driver. Encarnacion said her son came home with a Jehovah's Witness business card and told his moms that they are going to hell.

She reported the incident to the School District, which had Jacobo sign a policy-advisory letter. The letter said it was not to be construed as disciplinary in nature, called Jacobo a valued team member and outlined the School Board's policy on standards of ethical conduct.

Encarnacion wanted disciplinary action.

A Change.org petition created by Lakeland resident Erin Rothrock gained 480 signatures in support of Encarnacion, and Rothrock and Encarnacion went before the School Board to request that more be done.

Encarnacion said Tuesday that the disciplinary action taken after the investigation still isn't enough.

"Our family requests that appropriate measures are taken to properly discipline the bus driver, and to update the school policies in order to prevent such harmful incidents from affecting other innocent children in the future," she said. "She should have never had that conversation, no excuse. She was thinking of herself in that act and not the child, his feelings or his future."

Madison Fantozzi can be reached at madison.fantozzi@theledger.com or 863-401-6971. Follow her on Twitter @madisonfantozzi.