I am about to go stark raving mad!!!! **RANT***

[Dar]

OK heres the update... (sorry for the delay)

9am this morning...
I take my son to the office of the school bus company and pin point to the general manager where these kids get off the bus to see if we can at least get the ball rolling with the police so that these kids can be identified. We soon realize that the bus driver has added at his own will another bus stop (big no no against company policy and board policy) that was rule number 1 that was broken, second rule was allowing unauthorized passengers on the bus (another HUGE no no) I was assured by the branch general manager and also the route supervisor that this would be dealt with before the PM run and the route supervisor was going to go to the school and remove ALL unauthorized passengers and insure the friver knew that there was not a stop where the thugs wanted to be dropped off and be fareful.

(or so I thought)

10am
I went to the location of the transfer point (where this kid gets on) and spoke to the principal and told him what was going on and how can he insure my sons safety until we can get things set right. He suggested that my son go and wait in the office...

(or so I thought)

After school
My son comes home and says that the custodian of the highschool would not allow him into the school because he was not a student, even though he had the business card of the principal and was told to give it to any staff that said he had to leave and politely tell them that he was given permission. Well the custodian wanted to leave early on the friday night so everyone had to be out of the school.
the route supervisor did not go to the school and the bullies were on the bus again... my son hid between the seats for the whole ride so they would not spot him. he also stuffed his coat in his backpack and had the hood up on his hoodie so he could hide.
I called the bus company and was told that they had a sick call and the route manager had to go do a run, and that the dispatcher did not know if the river was spoken to about the route changes, and everything needs to wait till monday now...

I called the board and low and behold i got the general manager on the phone... filled him on the issues.. (i made sure i was polite) and at the end of the conversation i asked him "when can I follow up with you regarding this issue" and his exact words were " I wont follow up with you, our conversation is done and i will talk to the school on Monday".. I kinda of chuckled and said "OK are you going to call me back then and let me know the outcome?" he says "no thats not your concern, and furthermore I dont like your tone!"

Well folks thats where I lost the battle of wills.... I flipped my freekin lid... and i let him have it... but by the end he agreed to call me back (he probably said that to get me to shut up...lol )

I also informed him of the name of the civil court lawyer that I have a retainer for another legal matter, and told him he would be hearing from my attorney about this and I expect a follow up, and for the situation to be rectified or he will not have to worry about bullies... he will have to worry about ME !

 

[Cindiloohoo]

And that's when the claws come out!!! Stupid driver! Stupid bullies! Stupid not helpful custodians and general managers!!!

Sick em Dar!!!

 

[Dar]

Oh I forgot to add... that my son was sick to his stomach this morning I think is was anxiety from thinking he was going to ride the school bus...

 

[The Chicken Lady]

Quote:
It depends on the school that your kids attend. The school where I work is extremely, extremely strict about bullying. A school is only as strong as the people that run it and the parents that support it.

 

[Dar]

Quote:
It depends on the school that your kids attend. The school where I work is extremely, extremely strict about bullying. A school is only as strong as the people that run it and the parents that support it.

The Chicken Lady you are 100% right... but a lot of parents have their heads up their butts and think that Johnny and Sally are sweet innocent kids. They dont like to think that their kid could be the mastermind behind the bullying ring. Then we catch them on camera taking the seat belt (on small buses only) and the camera clearly shows Johnny taking the seat belt and hitting the kid in the seat in front of him, or joining the seat belts and joining them across the isle and the unsuspecting kid falls flat on their face. So then to many of these little "angles" were getting caught and bursting the bubble and thats when the parents got together and said the cameras were a violation of the kids rights

 

[Robin'sBrood]

Quote:
It depends on the school that your kids attend. The school where I work is extremely, extremely strict about bullying. A school is only as strong as the people that run it and the parents that support it.

The Chicken Lady you are 100% right... but a lot of parents have their heads up their butts and think that Johnny and Sally are sweet innocent kids. They dont like to think that their kid could be the mastermind behind the bullying ring. Then we catch them on camera taking the seat belt (on small buses only) and the camera clearly shows Johnny taking the seat belt and hitting the kid in the seat in front of him, or joining the seat belts and joining them across the isle and the unsuspecting kid falls flat on their face. So then to many of these little "angles" were getting caught and bursting the bubble and thats when the parents got together and said the cameras were a violation of the kids rights

What complete and utter nonsense on those parents' part! What about a kid's right to being able to get to school safely, and without bullying? What those anti-camera parents fail to understand is school bus riding is a PRIVILEGE, not a RIGHT, for students who behave themselves appropriately. If bullying kids can't behave, they have the RIGHT to be driven to school by their parents.

Dar, I know you are so

over this.

 

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

This thread has fascinated me. Been on both sides of this fence and have seen how bad it is.

One child on my daughter's bus was always threatening other kids, taking their things etc..... Finally, he threw his backpack out of the window of a moving bus and it went through the windshield of the car behind the bus! Bus had to stop. Police were called, the driver (who is trying very hard here) called many of the parents who would be waiting for their kids on her cell to tell us what was going on and where the kids were. I was two stops later so simply walked down to where the bus was sitting.

Bus driver, driver of the car, the police and the kid are all standing in the street. The driver is trying to keep the rest of the kids safe. The father of the child who did this came up in his sports car, jumped out of the car and immediately started yelling at ----- the COP! Seriously. The kid got this smug expression and the bus driver finally lost it. She called the bus company and the school right then and there and said she refused to drive with this kid on her bus.

The cop arrested the kid for malicious mischief. He asked all of us who were there to agree to help back him up about the kid and the father's behavior. We all agreed.

Turns out Daddy IS a lawyer and he sued the school, the bus company and the police department!! It cost HUGE taxpayer money simply to defend against the jerk. It took another year to get the kid off the bus and out of the school during which time he created many more problems.......



We have FAR too many parents who refuse to let their kids face consequences and a system ham strung by law suits and fear of law suits............

 

[Dar]

I dont want to sound like I am laying blame or pointing fingers... and everyone knows I sometimes will say things but not mean them in a callous way. so what I am about to say is just purely an observation.... (end of disclaimer...lol)

the routes that my son and daughter are on they transport the average farm kid who's evening and weekends are spent with hockey and farm chores... and then there is also the group of kids whos parents are LOADED and bought the McMansions just on the edge of town. Can we guess where the trouble makers live?

Both of my kids are on different buses. My DD is on french immersion so she rides one bus where there is a girl who will chew up a handful of M&M's and then spit them at the kids as they get off the bus like machine gun fire. there is also another child that is constantly showing the bus is "man parts" these are kids from JK to grade 6.

the problem also lies not with the bus company it lies with the way that transportation is handled. Here there is a transportation consortium. They schedule and route every school bus int he city catholic or public board... So what we are parents need to do if we have a concern is this.
1) call the principal and report it...
2) the school will then talk to the child (if they go to that school we can have 3 - 4 schools on one bus)
3) if the child in question does not go to that school the principal then calls the consortium and reports the problem to them
4) the consortium will then call the offenders school and report it to the principal of that school

to me... the average joe.. that seems like to many hands in the pot. The parents of the bus kids are not supposed to call the consortium directly, or the bus company directly unless we are canceling transportation for the day.

I kind of side tract this procedure and ruffled feathers when I went directly to the bus company and the principals of the schools... BUT i did so on request from the local police because there are 3 possible schools of these creeps and they dont have time to track through all the paperwork and phone calls... and i was told "call us back when you have found out what school he goes to and we will attend that school with you and your son and he can ID the offenders and we will talk to the offenders and see if there is enough to lay charges of uttering threats".

 

[ptig78d]

Dar,
I drive a school bus for First Student, as a spare driver ATT. I did have my own run last year, but I resigned it over the summer b/c I went back to college full-time. Our company is a contract company, but we work with the schools as well. Thankfully, the town I live in made it a rule that any bus that transports their kids, must have a camera on it. These have been very useful. I'm sorry to hear about the problems your son is having with his bus ride. I told my kids, and any kids on the bus I'm driving, that their driver may do things differently, but I'm the driver today and you will follow all of the bus rules. If you don't like it, or don't think you can behave, then get off the bus and call someone for a ride. I don't think twice about writing someone up who's misbehaving, after I've warned them. The best thing of all: the High School kids get an automatic 3 day suspension from the bus for a write-up. If they get 3 write-ups, then they're off the bus for the rest of the year!
In my opinion, you are doing the right thing. BE the SQUEAKIEST wheel you can be! Be an ADVOCATE for your child, because if you don't, no one else will. As far as the manager you spoke to: I can understand that he was a bit stressed by the situation of having a call-out and filling the route with the route manager...but he should always treat customers/parents with respect. If you don't think he's doing his job right and dealing with bullying (a very serious thing)...then go right up the chain of command: Find out who is his boss, and talk to them.
If legal action is your only recourse...then do it. A lot of parents don't realize just how much of a terror their kid is, until they see the evidence. Of course, their are some parents who will still deny that their kid is that bad....even after they see the evidence.
I personally think that we're hurting our kids, and society, by becoming too soft. I, though I wasn't alive then, miss the days when the bus driver could kick a misbehaving kid off the bus mid-route. Of course, then when little Johnny got home late, and his mother found out he'd been kicked off the bus....little Johnny actually got punished! The days when you could paddle your kid's backside without the fear of your own kid calling the cops for child abuse! I knew when I got my butt tanned, that I'd done something wrong...and if I did it again, I'd get paddled again...maybe twice as much! I didn't turn out mal-adjusted!
Sorry for my rant. Long story short, do what you think is best for your child. Find out who you need to talk to, and deal with it. If they won't do it, their boss or the Law will make them.

Best of luck to you and your son!

 

[DarkUnicorn]

Hey.... it's a fellow First Student driver! Hi!!!

sorry for the highjack...