What would you do: re: kids and the school bus...

[RitaZ.]

They spoke to the principal who assured them that it will be looked into and that they will consider having teachers outside at dismissal time from now on to be sure that all children get on the buses.

You mean that they DON'T have teachers or aides outside surpervising when the children are released? My goodness...

My kids are car riders, but I watch the buses pick up the bus riders while I wait in the car rider line. It's super organized at their schools; the teachers, aides, resource officer, even the principal and asst. principal are all over the place. They have their two way radios to communicate in case something goes wrong.

Your brother and SIL aren't overreacting. Remember, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. It's never pleasant to address these issues with the schools, but there are times that you can't "look the other way"; this is one of those times. It doesn't matter who is responsible for the drivers and who isn't, someone is responsible. The principal is in charge of what happens to the kids at her school. From the negligent bus driver to the office worker that allowed the kids to go home without parental permission, they have issues that need to be dealt with asap.

 

[Hillbeans]

Tracey - show your Brother/SIL this thread.

 

[lindajo]

I would have that bus driver's (and the secretary's) head served up to me on a platter in front of the school board! This is one (of many) of the reasons that parents like me are scared to let their kids ride a school bus. Where is the common sense??? I hope you let em have it!!

 

[Mskanga]

Not only would I have a problem with the bus driver leaving the children there, I would also have a problem with the school not supervising and making sure those kids got on the bus , but also I would have a problem with the person who released the children to someone the parents never allowed .
Boy would I have a field day with the Principal there!
I had a similar problem with my kids recently , the Principal was useless, the transportation department was giving me the runaround, I decided to call the Superintendent's assistant ( who BTW was my dd's Principal for 5 years ) and in ten minutes we had a new bus picking up all the kids on our bus stop. Our old bus was overcrowded, some of the kids were sitting three on a seat and the ones sitting on the outside had half their butt sticking out. My kids and my friend's were split one morning into different buses after I put them all in the same one, because they had no room. Needless to say my friend and I blew a gasket , there was no reason to split siblings unless it's an unforeseen emergency, this was not.
Speak to the transportation dept , but also speak to the superintendent, what the school did is VERY wrong.

 

[DSNY FN]

If our bus driver ever left one of the kids at the school there would be a tonne of trouble we have had 3 bus drivers let go this year alone because they would just not show up at some of the stops. The school board is looking at having the busses taken over by thier own people that way this doesn't happen again as of now the busses are outsourced to other companies.

 

[bentley483]

Sounds to me like someone should go to the school board. Even if the bus company is sub-contracted it will still be in the hands of the board. Elementary schools are responsible for the security of their students, from the moment they get on the bus in the morning, until they are delivered safely to their bus stop in the afternoon. This is definitely a case of negligence and leaves the school and faculty open for a huge lawsuit if anything happens to a student while under their jurisdiction, in school or on the bus. If they have a discipline problem on the bus they can be suspended from it or school. They are responsible for their passengers welfare. That driver should be fired and brought up on criminal charges.

It only takes a minute for a tragedy to happen. I live just a few miles from the elementary school where the little girl was attacked by a man with a hammer. The man walked right in the front door of the school, passed the office with not one person confronting him and hit the little girl in the head with the hammer as she walked by the library. He was a schizophrenic who had been off of his medication for several days and as he passed the school the idea came to him and he acted on it. That school is in the middle of a huge lawsuit for not having procedures in place to have prevented this from happening.

 

[Pin Wizard]

In my book, the school is at fault with this one. They should have either teachers or adult volunteers making sure the kids get on the bus okay. But I don't like school buses any way. The bus drivers in FL are terrible! I've been almost side swiped by them on more than one occasion. There was NO way I'd ever put my son on one. I hope the drivers at his new school are better. I'm thinking of sending him on it next year. He wants no part of it, I can't see driving all over town in the morning.

 

[Hillbeans]

Any updates on this issue yet? I'm very curious and concerned.

 

[jcemom]

Yes, the transportation company has removed this driver from the district and my brother's children were able to take the bus again for the first time this morning--with a new driver! (Being that she is not an employee of the school they could not fire her, but could insist that she not be allowed to work in their district. We don't know what the transportation company will do with her now. They may very well fire her, but we don't know.)

The school now has teachers on duty outside--in the mornings and afternoons! They remain until all children are either safely in the building in the am, or on their way home in the pm! This is definitely a change for the better! Luckily there has never been a major tragedy with all those unsupervised children, and now hopefully there never will be. I can't believe that situation even existed as it did, and I'm so glad that it has been addressed.

 

[jcemom]

I wanted to thank everyone who replied for your support and suggestions. It was good to hear that we weren't blowing things out of proportion to be so angry. Sometimes it's difficult to know when something is so close to you if you are looking at it from all angles or not. As parents many of us--myself included--can tend to overreact or be overly defensive where our children are concerned, right? It really helped just to know that wasn't the case in this situation. A little reassurance goes a long way, lol!

 

[sha_lyn]

glad to hear the school has put teachers outside for bus duty. I can't believe they weren't doing this before.

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

Wow, I can't believe they did that. Atleast it is working out for the better now. Hopefully they all learned from the BIG mistakes they made.

 

[Celluloidgal]

Glad to see they responded before something unforgivable happened.

 

[lindajo]

Bravo to you jcemom, you may have saved a child's life. I'm still shaking my head on this one...

 

[remyandhollandsmommy]

You know, when I rode a school bus (even in high school), the bus drivers knew who you were and where you got off the bus at. Until they knew you you had to have a number written in permenant ink on your hand telling them what bus stop you got off at (I think they list the stops in order of drop off???). My DD(5), and my neighbors son were dropped off at some bus stop a mile away from our house on the first day of kindergarden. I was 7 mos pregnant at the time and freaked out when the driver had no idea where he left those kids!! He said to call the bus barn and let them know if they didn't show up within an hour. An HOUR!! Then he calmly shut the door and drove off. I ran home, and started to call the police. As I was trying to dial (I was shaking so hard that I dropped the phone several times) my doorbell rang. Thank God, some 8 yr old boy had taken my DD and neighbors son home and told his dad they were lost. I had drilled our address into my DD as soon as we were stationed here and she was able to repeat it. This poor man had to listen to me sobbing and god blessing him in hysterics. I then got VERY ANGRY and called the before mentioned bus barn and reamed them out. Since that day forward that same bus driver has never dropped those two off anywhere but at our house and waits until I get them before he closes that door.
These days it seems so easy to snatch kids from off the street and as parents we have to put our trust in the schools to keep our kids safe. Hopefully they start guarding kids more and following "policy" less.

 

[Hillbeans]

What a huge sigh of relief. See, one person can truly make a difference in this world. You may have indirectly saved a child's life. Kudos to you for following up with your family about this issue.

 

[hilside]

I have taught at three different elementary schools, and at each, the teachers were REQUIRED to be in assigned spots, both inside and outside, for arrival and dismissal. Also, the bus riders and car riders were always dismissed separately from the walkers and bike riders, to reduce the number of little bodies running around near the cars and buses. The fact that there is no supervision around the buses, other than drivers who aren't allowed to leave the buses, is simply appalling.

 

[Tuffcookie]

What happened with the secretary that let someone, other than the designated person, leave the school with your children?

TC

 

[jcemom]

Originally posted by Tuffcookie
What happened with the secretary that let someone, other than the designated person, leave the school with your children?

TC

She and the principal apologized to my brother and assured him that it won't happen again, and after all that has come of this he believes them. I'm not sure why she did that as my sister wasn't allowed to pick up my nephew not long ago. The only thing we can think of is that she was a bit "rattled" that the kids were left behind, and knowing the woman (the neighbor) allowed the kids to go with her trying to find a quick solution to the problem. Obviously it was the wrong decision, but my brother wasn't as upset over that as he was with the bus driver. Hopefully the secretary won't do that again! (I'm reasonably certain she won't.) Their school is similar to mine in that it is a fairly small school where, for the most part, everyone knows everyone. Some big improvements have come of this incident, though, and we are happy about that.

Edited to add: I think it's difficult, when you're raised in small towns like those in which my brother and I live (my profile says Pittsburgh, but we actually live quite a ways south of the city, in a very rural area), to adjust to not trusting people. We grew up knowing everyone, going to school with kids whose parents went to school with our parents, and then raising our kids in the same neighborhoods!