EDITOR’S NOTE:
I noticed this today on Facebook, and I choose to share it with readers, particularly those who work for schools. So many these days bemoan the shortage of bus divers, substitute teachers and even teachers. Perhaps this anonymous letter can shed some light on the problem:
As a school bus driver, I would like to explain something.
My job is to transport your child from point A to point B safely, on time and ready to learn.
That is all.
What do I mean when I say safely? Let me explain. Safely means I pre-trip my bus daily to ensure it is running properly and that it hasn’t been tampered with. Safely means my eyes are constantly scanning all 7 mirrors, blind spots, and the road in front of me.
I’m NOT a babysitter.
I’m NOT a mediator.
I’m a BUS DRIVER.
I would absolutely love to be able to watch and hear each and every little thing that goes on in the 40 feet of school bus behind me, but while I’m watching Johnny jump across the seat, I just missed a car pull out in front of me. And oops, while I’m yelling at Susie to keep her hands to herself, the light changed and now I’m slamming the brakes to stop in time at the intersection. And what’s that? Now Joey has a nose bleed? And now someone dumped all of Katie’s stuff out of her book bag, and “bus driver, Bobby is flicking me”, and “bus driver, Lily said she doesn’t like me anymore”, and what’s that? While I’m looking in the mirror behind me reprimanding your perfect children, a car just ran my reds and Sally almost got run over!
It’s never ending to us…
And that doesn’t even include the way the children speak to us. I’m pretty certain they don’t speak to other school faculty like that. And certainly don’t speak to their parents the way they speak to us.
So please, parents, tell me … where do you want me to look? Behind me? In front of me?
Would you prefer I pull over every time someone yells “bus driver”? Because then YOU will complain that the bus is never on time, and trust me if I did pull over every time, we wouldn’t even make it out of the school parking lot before I’d have to stop. In case you didn’t know, your children are not perfect…no one is.
Would you rather I continue down the road watching what’s going on BEHIND me more than what’s going on with other vehicles on the road around me? Because I can assure you, if I’m not scanning every angle around the bus, there WILL be an accident, and then I will again be to blame, because I should’ve been paying attention to the road.
Now, on top of that, we see your children for less than 30 minutes a day, in most cases. Please teach your child to respect the bus driver, and to behave themselves when riding the bus…because we want to return them to you, SAFELY.
~ Unknown
An easy and effective solution is to remove trouble children from bus and put the responsibility back on the parents. I know from experience that having to walk two miles to school for a week solved whatever bus problems in our family.
The parents do not want the responsibility any more. Some of the kids that walk by my house have no respect for anything. I would not be a bus driver ever.
I have long believed that a bus full of 40-70 children should have at least one adult supervisor. We wouldn’t let that many kids sit alone in a classroom. The driver should concentrate on driving. If this seems unaffordable, then play an educational cd or video and count it as learning time.
An acquaintance of mine retired in June ’23 after 21 years as a school bus driver for a suburban GR district. Most districts already have installed video cameras to monitor students and have video ready if a driver or student is assaulted by students (and occasionally parents)
Poor behavior on buses is nothing new. Unfortunately parents are much more likely to become “involved” if their child is the bully magically becomes a problem for the school system wanting to avoid frivolous lawsuits.
His school system took an aggressive approach to aggressive students and their parents. Depending on the severity of the bus rider’s actions there was most often a warning followed by a two-week suspension from the bus. Not school, just getting a ride to school. One week was tried, but not kept because the suspended rider got a case of “flu” that remarkably lasted a week too. When informed of a bus suspension, some parents threatened to pull their child and send them to a charter school. The principal or superintendent would tell them they had that option.
I think hiring bus monitors would be a great idea. Like certain classes or certain schools, there are certain buses that have more behavior issues than others. Hire enough bus monitors (like 25% of the school fleet) so they are riding “problem” buses and floating on all busses. The issue would be getting the funds to pay the monitors. Solutions like monitors cost money and it’s easier to blame parents than supply additional funding.
And so it goes.