What an afternoon!! School transportation rant!! FINAL UPDATE #15

[always quiet]

This afternoon, I had spent a couple hours visiting with an old high school friend. She lives about 15 min. from me a couple towns over. As I am leaving, my cell phone rings and it's my older daughter, Jeana. She is quite frantic. Between all the yelling I hear on her school bus and her rambling into the phone, I manage to calm her and ask her to repeat herself. She tells me that Jessica, my younger daughter, is not on the school bus (this was actually the first time she had taken the bus home since she has been on the crutches this past month). She went up to the driver immediately, BEFORE the bus driver even closed the door, and told her that her sister did not make it onto the bus and she wants to get off and go find her. The driver asks what is wrong with her sister and Jeana tells her that Jess is on crutches. The driver then tells her that she shouldn't be on the bus with crutches in the first place! She also refuses to let Jeana off to get her sister!!! My daughter is being insistent, then other kids on the bus (who know Jess has crutches) start to yell "Let her off!!". Still, the driver will not reopen the doors and proceeds to pull out!!! This is when my daughter calls me. I hang up with my daughter and call the school, trying to either find out where my younger dd is or to get a message to her to wait in the office and I would get her there. The office mentions an "incident" and proceeds to put the displinaration on the phone. This man tells me that my daughter is ON th bus!! I say no, she is not. Her sister just called me and assured me she is not there. He puts me on hold, makes some calls to transportation and comes back to tell me that they put my daughter on ANOTHER bus and after all it's stop were done, they would drop her off at her stop. He also tells me that according to the driver, she was not aware that my daughter was 'missing' til they were already on the road....she wouldn't allow DD#1 off the bus while on the road. I say, no!! She was told before they pulled out and any of the kids on the bus can testify to that. I am furious with the driver for not letting my older daughter off to get her sister, mad at them for just sticking her on another bus and not sending her into the office to just call me to pick her up there. By the time Jess came walking down the street, she was in tears. Makes a mother's heart just melt to see their child like that.

 

[ntburns22]

 

[Pooh93]

Yikes! I would be furious!

 

[PaulaSue]

that is Crazy!!!!

 

[Rock'n Robin]

Yikes! Knowing DD's bus driver, he would probably give her a detention for not listening to him too. . Hope with your DD's friends backing her up, everything goes well.
Robin M.

 

[always quiet]

Yesterday afternoon turned out just as nuts!! Not becausse Jess didn't make the bus (the displinaration who called me personally walked her onto the bus!! ). The other kids on the bus wrote up a statement about what happened the day before (they came up with this all on their own). DD#1 asked what that was.........well, the driver heard what they were doing........and wrote HER up again!! Her friend, Malissa, asked the driver what for........and the driver asked for HER name too. I have to love this kids reaction though..."It's Malissa _____________, with a M" My girls had no idea the other kids had done this. I makes me feel good that the kids are so willing to back my one daughter up and being so supportive of Jessica, the one with the crutches (small update, the orthopedic doctor has told her only to use one crutch now - she making some progress! ) I fully plan on calling the school this morning and see what exactly is going on - they really DON'T want to give my daughter detention over this....it wouldn't be pretty!! There IS a reason I have the user name that I do!!

 

[dvcfamily41801]

Oh Colleen I hope everything is okay for the girls. Good luck!!!!

 

[eeyoreiscool]

Good luck and keep us informed.

 

[MsDisney23]

Oh I feel for you and your girls, that is just terrible thing to have happen.

 

[kilee]

Gotta love the school sometimes. I'm glad your dd made it home okay.

 

[ILUVMYBRIT]

Oh my. That really makes me angry but also makes me greatful to my kids bus driver. I used to drive a school bus and there is absolutley no excuse for that drivers behavior. I can remember many the time an older or even a younger sibling on my bus saying their brother or sister didnt make the bus and as long as we were still at the school or close enough to turn around I would call the bus company to call the school and have them search for that child as I headed back to the school. Kudos for your daughter keeping her head about her and giving you a call and what wonderful kids on the bus to support her.

 

[Serena]

Oh, I'd be furious too. I hope your girls will be alright.

 

[always quiet]

I just got off the phone with the school. I asked if he had received a report on Jeana yesterday because the driver once again wrote her up. He assured me that he has not heard anything about yesterday's incident and even if it came in today, he had no intentions on doing anything about it. As far as he is concerned, this whole situation is closed...my daughter will not get in trouble for standing up for her sister.

On a similiar note, the call I had placed to the supervisor of transportation the other day was never returned. I think when he realized that the driver lied about being on the road when she was told my daughter missed the bus (and her comment about "she shouldn't even be on the bus"), he might be trying to just ignore me. I feel like raising hell but I don't want to make my daughters' bus ride home a total nightmare.

 

[momof2inPA]

Can you just pick them up and take them yourself? The bus driver is definitely at fault, but I wouldn't want a ******* like that in charge of my kids.

 

[always quiet]

Well, my girls came home from school yesterday in pretty high spirits. There was some more drama with this stupid bus driver....and IMHO, she got what she deserved!

I had mentioned that another student on the bus, who witnessed the whole ordeal and knew what the bus driver was telling transportation (BTW, did I mention that she wanted to call the police on my daughter for creating choas on the bus and "refusing to no" - their term, not mine! ), had started a petition on the bus, which the other students signed, confirming my daughter's version. Well, the driver wrote this student up for yelling and screaming at her on the bus. This boy got sent to the office and faced punishment. His parents came into the office and demanded to see the tape from the bus' camera. Not only did the tape show this boy not yelling at her, it also, without one moment of doubt, showed MY daughter, with the bus still in the school's bus port, telling the driver that she needed to get her sister, in a very calm, but insistent fashion. They caught this driver in so many lies that she has been terminated. I guess the drivers had better realize that the cameras are there to catch THEM too!

 

[Tracey1974]

I'm glad- all's well that ends well. Good for your daughter for handling it the way she did!

 

[jgmklmhem]

Only thing I would say is be careful because the driver seems a little unstable and she obviously knows where you live. In her mind she could be thinking your DD got her fired. I would hope not but you never know these days.