As a parent would this make you mad or would you under stand it????? I am the bus driver

[kimisfishing]

Dear Route 7 Parents,
For the last few weeks I have been working with our students about their behavior on the bus. We have had many days that I have had to remind them of the regular rules and that they are for safty, not to take away the fun.
Yesterday afternoon I was ill and we had a substatute driver. Ms. Kathy drove our bus and some of the students were very loud, disrespectful, and would not follow the rules even after being asked to.
I was not there so I can not say which students were doing these things, so I feel that all the students should write Ms. Kathy a note of appology. It may say anything they feel they need to say, even if it is just, "I am sorry the bus was so loud".
Thank you
Ms. Kimberlee

I have included and copy of some of the safty rules incase you would like to refresh the students on how they should be acting on the bus.

 

[redhen]

Well, call me a jerk,..but....candy, games, prizes?? And its still not working..
You say you don't like to write up the kids...why? Maybe that's why they know they can keep misbehaving and taking advantage of your bus route??
How long until one of these kids causes an injury or an accident to happen? By not addressing this problem with real consequences you are putting others kids at risk on your bus. ( you mentioned it was a safety risk)..
If I was a parent of a child on your bus and you let my children continue to be at risk on your bus i'd have some serious words with your boss. I'm sorry. But that's how I feel about it.

 

[kimisfishing]

my boss does not back us up, I do have them write sentances and do write them up for serious offences,( had one taken off for spitting today) If you don't ride the bus you don't know what danger they are in. I do everything I can to keep these kids safe. I gave out the letters and I know some will not do it, but I think it is important for all children to take responcibility for what happens on their bus and I I do also. I ask my kids all the time if it is really bad or if I am just crabby. I also appologize if I have been extra crabby. One parent called and said her kids were not on the bus that day, I told her I was not there so did not know but they did not have to do it. She said she thought it was right for all the kids to get the letter no matter what. I had some kids that never get in trouble ask what they had to write, I said nothing, but if they did anything would be great so the driver knew that we were sorry. The reason we are having problems is we are getting new kids all the time and they are testing me. They were all silent tonight and not one complained because they all know I am doing the best for all not just one. I also appologize to the kids that were good and tell them that I can not pick and chose who can talk and not so this is the best way. They agree. I also tell every one of them I Love Them every day. All my parents have my personal phone number and can call me at any time. I feel if I work with the parents and kids I have a better chance of fixing things then just writing them up and it going on their record that are trouble on the bus. I have had very few parents not like the way I do things and I have been doing this 15 years. I even have High School kids come hug me when they see me out in public ant tell me I was the best bus driver they ever had. So I must be doing something right. I also am the frist to tell my boss if I do something wrong. These kids mean alot to me and I have some with serious medical issues, I can tell by the sound of their voice or the look in their eyes if there is a problem. I am not doing this just for the pay check, this is what God has made me for. I am not perfect, but I do the best I can and the kids feel safe and the parents feel safe when I have them. For the last 3 years sub drivers have been fighting over who gets to drive my route because my kids are always good. My spelling does not matter I am a driver not a teacher LOL and most of my parents are lucky they can even read. I reward my kids all the time and if they have not been as good as the others I just say * this is for you trying* and next week you wil try harder. I REALLY LOVE MY KIDS!!!!

 

[thaiturkey]

It's a problem here because the new forum format won't let me use my spell checker. I'm good at spelling but my fingers are dyslexic and I need the help of the Google spell checker!

 

[kimisfishing]

Thank you, I do what I think is best for all the kids. A few minutes of silence or 1 sentance will not kill anyone. But Misbehaving on the bus could kill many.

Kim, kudos for you taking a stand. IMHO, the group punishment was appropriate. I feels it instills a sense of community and group responsibility. My kids have been punished as part of a group discipline effort, even though they had not done anything wrong. When they complained, I asked if they had done anything to try to curb the behavior. When they replied they just sat there and didn't say anything, even thought they knew the actions were wrong, I told them to consider the punishment as the price for their silent acceptance of the behavior. I feel that's a good societal lessons to teach our kids that were are all responsible.

Having relatives who have bus drivers, I wish you well and hope the admin backs you.

YMMV

 

[KBlue]

I'd be fine with it, though I am big on enforcing manners and proper behavior. Other parents may not be so accepting of the fact that their precious angels were acting up.

 

[Kaitie09]

That sounds much nicer than what when on when I rode a bus. If we were loud, the bus driver would pull over in the park and make us sit for 5 minutes without any talking. If someone even spoke a word, it was another 5 minutes. I remember we were close to an hour late one time. He was eventually fired, but not after many 6th graders would hop off the bus and just walk home if they were close enough. This was in 1996 though.

 

[chickened]

If that is your phone # you may want to remove it.

Dear Route 7 Parents,
For the last few weeks I have been working with our students about their behavior on the bus. We have had many days that I have had to remind them of the regular rules and that they are for safty, not to take away the fun.
Yesterday afternoon I was ill and we had a substatute driver. Ms. Kathy drove our bus and some of the students were very loud, disrespectful, and would not follow the rules even after being asked to.
I was not there so I can not say which students were doing these things, so I feel that all the students should write Ms. Kathy a note of appology. It may say anything they feel they need to say, even if it is just, "I am sorry the bus was so loud".
Thank you
Ms. Kimberlee
I have included and copy of some of the safty rules incase you would like to refresh the students on how they should be acting on the bus.

 

[dewey]

Seems nothing changes throughout the years when it comes to kids messin' with substitutes.

Any of ours would usually take names of those acting up. 3 warnings and ya hoofed it or had to find another means of transportation. I never was one that cared for punishing a whole group when only select kids did the misdeeds.

 

[kimisfishing]

Well they are all going to be silent today and maybe tomorrow. I have been working with these guys for a while. Our subs used to fight over who got to drive my route because the kids were so good, but for some reason they have changed. I don't see writing a note is punishment, just a way of making them take ownership of the fact that their friends are acting up. Our sub drivers don't know the kids names especially when I don't call in that much. I was not there so I can't take other kids word as to who was doing it and the ones that I expected to be bad were actually the good ones, go figure LOL. I do not like to write the kids up, I prefer to work with the parents, and I really feel the other driver deserves an appology. They really made them selves and ME look bad. I work with these kids all the time and I try to LOVE them into being good but this is above and beond just being bad, it is making the ride not safe for the other kids. If I could write them up and give them time off the bus I would but my boss is a whimp and he is retiring at the end of the year so he really does nothing to help us drivers. I have tried candy, games, prizes and everything I can think of to get them to be better for me even. Nothing seems to work so I was just thinking that maybe if the parents knew how they have been acting they might talk to them. And when I have done this in the past, the *GOOD* kids always seem happy to do it and the kids that act up actually write a letter telling what they really did. LOL I am really mad about this and just want to be sure I am not being rude. Thanks for the input. It helps alot.