SAFER SCHOOLS NEWS-VOL. 156

Bus Driver Incident

Bus Driver Locks kids on bus and parents out!

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A school bus driver for the Dysart Unified School District has resigned from a suburban Phoenix district after he locked dozens of young students on the school district’s bus he drove. The Bus Driver stated it was due to the students bad behavior that he would not let them off the bus, even when parents were strongly asking him to. He then drove off while angry parents pounded on the door, demanding their children be let off.

According to surveillance video from the bus, the driver prevented more than 30 elementary school students from exiting the bus while he lectured them for hitting and yelling. “The longer we stay here, the more your parents are going to get upset — and not at me,” the bus driver said. “They’re going to be getting upset with you because it’s your fault you’re not getting off the bus.”

“See, your parents are getting upset. You (a parent knocking on the bus door) break that door; you’re going to be buying a new one! Your kid will get off the bus when I am done with ’em,” said the driver. “Let the kids off the bus,” replied the parent. “I’m not letting anyone off until you listen to what I have to say,” said the driver. In the video you can hear some of the kids, especially the little ones started to get upset, crying and asking for their parents. “Please get us out, help us, help!” said one of the children. “I want my daddy; I want my daddy,” said another child.

As the situation escalated, the driver decided to take off, and the bus went into chaos. “Step away from the bus,” said the driver to a parent. Parents called 9-1-1 when they said the driver kept the students inside the bus after the children became rowdy. 911 dispatched officers who met with the driver at the bus shop, and the kids were finally released to their parents.

The school district has placed the driver on leave during the investigation but he later resigned. One parent said that his child refuses to ride the school bus after the incident.

Roughly 30 percent of middle school and high school students are bullied, and nearly 10 percent of the abuse happens on the school bus, according to the U.S. Department of Education. On Buses there is limited supervision and a confined environment making school buses a hotbed for bullying. While most drivers say bullying is a serious problem on their school buses, effectively juggling the monitoring of bullying while ensuring students arrive safely at their destinations is a significant challenge, notes the National Association for Pupil Transportation. “There are typically far more children on a school bus than in a classroom, and the bus driver has to manage them all while operating a 10-ton vehicle and facing the opposite direction,” NAPT officials pointed out in a past release.

Insufficient training and bullying policies that don’t address a bus driver’s role only compound the problem, Mike Martin, executive director of the NAPT, said in a presentation last year. To address this issue, Keys To Safer Schools.com has developed an international training for Managing the Mobile Classroom & Student Management.

A Short list other Bus Incidents in the Last Few Months:

November 17, 2014
Barret’s Chapel Elementary School in Arlington where parents blame Durham bus driver for violence on school bus. One parent was asking the driver to move her child who was being bullied and she felt the bus driver did not care. Other parents tell me the bus driver has no control of the kids on the bus, which range in age from kindergarten thru eighth grade. They say he also allows kids to bully one another, and even has an appointed student monitor who the kids say gets violent with them.

Feb 10, 2015
When 37 children in Alfred, New York boarded their school bus one late spring afternoon, they had no idea that they were entering a nightmare. The driver, Martha Thompson, was drunk and driving recklessly, exceeding speeds of 70 MPH and at one point hitting a mailbox and rolling into a ditch. The terrified children pleaded with Thompson to stop, but even their screams could not convince her to pull over.

May 7, 2015
A 19 year old Greenwood teen was arrested after he reportedly engaged in sexual conduct with a 15-year-old girl on a school bus. According to a Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office report, deputies were notified on May 5 by school officials that the student and the victim had been engaged in sexual activity on a school bus, both before and after school. Deputies were provided video of at least three separate incidents in which assailant and the victim engaged in sexual activity on the bus.

On parent stated; if they had knowledge of the incidents, complete with video, I don’t understand why the district failed to report it previously. Aren’t they mandated reporters? The district failed to protect the victim, who may well have been a willing participant, although below the age of consent. But, they also failed to protect the other students from exposure to such vulgar behavior.

May 14, 2015
Jacksonville, FL: – Police said in a news release that the bus was stopped by two suspects when they apparently tried to fight someone on the bus. As the bus began to leave one suspect shot into the bus, striking two female students, police said. As the bus driver tried to open the bus’ door, the boys tried to push their way through, but the driver pressed down on the gas pedal and tried to get away. That’s when about five gunshots rang out and he ducked, the boy said. He said one of the girls was struck in the mouth with a bullet going through both of her cheeks. He said he tore off his shirt and gave it to the girl to stem the bleeding. He said the other girl was struck when one of the bullets went though one of the bus seats and hit her in the back of the head.

May 15, 2015
Jefferson Parish, La. — Two more children have come forward alleging sexual misconduct incidents on a Jefferson Parish school bus. Officials are investigating complaints of sexual acts on a school bus in Marrero. Parents of students at Estelle Elementary are speaking out about the alleged incident. A bus driver was terminated and an investigation is underway while some parents remain outraged over an incident involving sexual acts that allegedly took place on the school bus involving young children. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office said the two children, a boy and girl under 10 years old, have become part of an investigation into a 13-year-old boy. The investigation began after two students from Estelle Elementary in Marrero said they were forced to perform a sex act on a school bus.

May 18, 2015
Prince George’s County, Md – The parents of a Prince George’s County elementary student who was beaten up on a school bus now say they plan to sue the school system. The video of 9-year-old student insisting that she did not want to fight has gone viral. Despite at least a dozen verbal attempts to avoid a fight, another student hit this student repeatedly as the bus kept rolling along. The beating lasted several minutes.

Past Articles on Bus Incidents:

• Volume 98: Bus Violence; 3 Days in March
• Volume 90: What’s Up With Buses? 
• Volume 85: Bus Violence in the News

Programs to Bus Management and more: (learn more)

• Bus Driver Training:  Managing the Mobile Classroom
• How to determine – If my School is unsafe?
• Keys’ FREE “Knowledge Base Center” – Anger Management/De-escalation Knowledge Base
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• See Assessing Dangerousness in Adults & Assessing the Potentially Dangerous Student
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