The preteens, ages 10 and 11, allegedly attacked the victim in a Sept. 10 incident while using racially motivated language on the school bus in the village of Gouverneur, WTVH reported.
In addition, the 11-year-old girl was charged with third-degree assault as a hate crime, according to the Watertown Daily Times.
According to Gouverneur police Chief Laurina M. Greenhill, police received a complaint from a parent, who said the two students used racially motivated language, punched the victim in the right eye and pulled her hair, the newspaper reported. The girl also suffered a knee bruise when she fell backward as her hair was pulled, according to WWNY.
The victim is an African American and the assailants are white, WWNY reported.
Lauren French, the superintendent of the Gouverneur Central School District, told the television station the incident was "devastating."
"It is probably the most professionally devastating event since I started working at Gouverneur in 1984," French told WWNY.
According to police, Tiffany N. Spicer, 28, of Edwards, was the bus monitor but did nothing to prevent the attack or stop it, WTVH reported. Spicer was charged with three counts of endangering the welfare of a child, the television station reported.
The cases of the alleged attackers will be handled in family court, the television station reported.
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