What Would You Do If This Happened to Your Child?

I have a friend that is a little older than me, she had her kids right out of high school. I waited to have my kids, hers are grown now and mine are 12 and 7!
Anyway, I asked her if there was anything that she would have done different with her kids. She told me that she would have stood up for her kids more. If you don't stand up for them no one else will. It was the best advice!
I would not stop until you get answers! I have had a couple things happen and I went to bat for my kids and didn't back down until I was satisfied. They also need to see that if you are upset about what happened that you follow thru.
When my son was in second grade I overheard the boys talking about how it was ok to steal because you never got in trouble for it. I talked to them and learned that an older boy had been stealing things out of the younger boy's lockers. When they told the teacher and told him who it was, they were told that they shouldn't have brought the stuff to school in the first place. I went to the principle, school board and the superintendent until I got answers! Believe me, these boys watched and listened until the right thing was done. They came home from school every day and gave me updates! So if they know that you are upset, they will watch to see what you will do.
Go for it - don't wait for it to happen again!

I would deffinately push this with the school and the parents...I would also take it to the news stations. This is absolutely rediculous....even if my child wasn't on the bus I would still be upset.

Wow! You bet I would make a big deal! As a mom of a kindergartener who is terrified of riding the bus in the first place, I can't even imagine what this would have done to my son! You have done everything I can think of, outside of calling the news stations. With the apathy that everyone is having in this situation, I would call them. That is an outrage! I hope your child is ok and not having huge issues with the bus now! Good luck, let us know how it turns out!

If the school or bus company doesn't do anything I would go to the news.

You definately are not out of line. If a stop was missed the driver should have turned around, not dropped the kids wherever..think of the parents who wait at the stop for the young kids...when they didn't show up, they must have been worried to death. If the driver hasn't already been dealt with the company is slacking. The day they received the complaint, the driver should have been pulled from the rout and investigated. If for nothing else, the safety of the kids.

That exactly why me kids donnot ride the bus, but I do question the 5th graders saying the driver in a car said the car driver smelled of smoke and alcohol if the driver is in a car.

What school district was this in?

That is beyond unacceptable and downright dangerous. I would keep complaining until you get a response. If e-mail isn't working I would call. How about the school principal? I would even go to the Superintendent's office. I think that is appalling. Keep at it--it is our job to protect our children. You are not out of line.

I'd go to the school's District office asap!

I would try emailing and calling only for a couple more days. That is a serious issue and could only get worse. If they don't return calls or emails, then yes I would go to the news also. If he was drinking that is putting your child and the other children in danger, and you wouldn't want to put your child on that bus everyday knowing that the driver has been drinking and could possibly get into an accident.

I think apathy is the worst malady of this country, but that is a subject for another day. You should call your local representative and register a complaint and I think going to the news station is not a bad idea. They are always looking for stories. Good luck?

Hi - something similar happened in our neighborhood but it was only one child. The parents ended up contacting the county with the complaint before they heard anything about it. The driver was disciplined.

I would talk with the principal. Drop by and demand someone talk to you about it. You need reassurance as a parent that your child will get to school or home from school safely. I remember the news story last winter when the little kindergarten student was dropped at the wrong stop and was picked up by a citizen driving by. It was cold that day and he could have died. If you don't get a reponse, the news might get a prompt response. Good luck. Thank you for advocating for the students. What school is it?

I think you are exactly correct in speaking for you child and the other children. I would go down to the school or the bus garage and wait there until you get answers. I would not leave until you talk with either the principal, superintendent or bus owner/manager. That is absolutely unacceptable and could have resulted in someone getting injured or killed by the bus drivers careless actions. Good luck to you and keep fighting on this one!

HI T.,

You definitely need to have that driver terminated and make sure that he/she can never drive school children again. That incident showed recklessness and improper judgement in caring for children. Bus drivers are caretakers for our children, they DRIVE them to and from school. I don't let just anybody transport my child in a vehicle. I totally understand where you are at and do not think you're going overboard. Children were put into harms' way and nobody seems to be doing anything about it. Good for you for taking a stand. Go to the top, girl! I'm behind you 100%. Good Luck. Let us all know what happens.

You are not out of line at all. Keep hounding the bus company until you get a response. I would also ask to meet with the principal of your school face to face and let him know how upset you are by this incident. I would even contact your school district's superintendent and keep a record of all your correspondence so that if anything like this happens again you'll have evidence of an on-going problem.

Kudos to you for not only standing up for your own child but any other one that could come into contact with this driver. You are absolutely not out of line - the driver was endangering the safety of those kids.

The bus company is being negligent as well if they allow this kind of behavior to continue. Whatever "rights" this bus driver has surely cannot surpass that of the safety of the children!

Ok check out the newspaper the Savage Pacer online. I was just interviewed in a news story about school buses.
http://www.savagepacer.com/node/5038

If you cross the street from my house it is exatly 1mile from school. We are just short of being 1mile away. So last year my kindergartener was expected to walk herself to and from school cross city,county boundarylines and walk down a narrrow street with no streetlights, next to the woods, no sidewalk and tons and tons of cars weaved through the kids then cross Lynn Ave which is a extremely busy road 7400 cars a day and onto school. When I would walk her and leave the car at home I would run into problems with crazy teen drivers racing up and down the street. I 'd call savage and burnsville police and they would argue with me over who's jurisdiction this was and nothing would be done so I can't even imagine what would have happend if a child was abducted etc., would the police fiddle around and not respond and play boundary line games?

It took 1.5 years of throwing a fit, and getting several petitions going and fighting the school board and we finally won. We got a BUS! My daughter's bus stop now has 30 kids at it. They literally fill half a bus in one stop. The am and pm bus drivers are two different people and the pm driver is a real witch and refuses to drop them off at the designated spot. She keeps dropping them off at the crazy road next to the woods which is why we fought for a bus in the first place. I and some other mom's called and called and b!tched. We would flag the bus driver down and tell her she wasn't dropping them off correctly etc.. After calling the bus company, the principal, and the director of transportation for our dist. I finally got the driver to drop them at their desiganted spot. My advise keep advocating for your children noone else will they will get sick of hearing you complain and will do what they're suppose to, to shut you up which is pathetic but it works.Now I'm fighting because my daughter's bus is late picking them up from school and they are coming home like 20min. late.

I honestly don't think alot of parents care and the media would care either. They'res not alot of parents out there like you or I who are on top of things and see a problem with what happend. When my daughter didn't get a bus I drove her there was no way I would let her walk especially by herself yet ALL my neighbors let their kids walk and ride bikes and I almost hit several of them with my car all the time because they lacked the maturity to safely stay on the side of the road. They would ride their bikes and pull out right in front of my car.

As far as being dropped 1/2mile from home it sucks but they are allowed to that. Alot of kids have to actually walk quite a bit to get to their stops.The LAW is elementry school students can walk up to 1mile to school or to their bus stop. I don't think they are allowed to do that unannounced though they need to give you warning etc. Especially being younger elementry. Surprises are not fun and that driver should have turned around. As far as a car hitting your child or being abducted you YES that is a possibility but what do you think the kids do that don't qualify for a bus and walk 1 mile to school they're vulnerable for getting lost, getting abducted and so on too. What won my case was not getting into that so much but showing that the road they had to cross was considered a Extreme Hazard and had 7400 vechicles a day. I tried to whine about the distance to school, the road next the woods without a sidewalk and the fact that my daughter had to literally walk past the house where that guy from savage killed that girl the craigslist thing but they didn't care about that and couldn't do anything you have to prove extreme hazard. And they'll look at it like a little mistake but it's not a little mistake it's our precious children. I'm just trying to be honest I'm on your side 100% but just warning you of what I went through just trying to get a bus in the first place.

Just keep telling the principal bus company that something horrible could have happened to a child and they would be liable. Keep fighting...Dont give up! I didn't and I finally got somewhere. If you don't hear back from them keep pestering them. Email worked great for me. It would be ONE thing if that was his bus stop and you knew that ahead of time and could wait for your child but to be dropped off in a strange place is totally uncalled for. My daughter would be terrified if that happened to her.

I'm a paranoid parent but I have to be this day in age. I go to the bus stop with her and wait at the bus stop for her after school. And I can see the busstop from our kitchen window, I just don't trust the other kids and don't want my daughter to get run over or do something stupid out there by herself. I don't let her play in the street why would I let her catch a bus in the street alone?

This makes me glad that where my daughter's bus stop is, there are concerned parents that have made complaints about bus drivers.
Nothing like this, more like the bus driver being mean to the kids, yelling at them to the point that a child would pee their pants.
With the current bus driver, my daughter refuses to ride the bus in the mornings. At first I thought it was just her being oversensitive (b/c she can be) but two more parents have spoken up and asked me about the driver.
With me it is not a big deal to drive her to school b/c we don't live that far and her bus stop is actually by my parents house, so either I would turn left to take her to the bus stop or turn right to take her to school. I just wanted to give her a few minutes of socializing with her friends before school.
Good Luck and keep an eye out for the few bus drivers that, in my opinion, shouldn't be driving the bus.

This is an intollerable situation and you should NOT give up your struggle. I can tell you personally that if my 2nd grader and my Kind. had to walk 1/2 mile home or to daycare, I would personally drive to the school and raise some hell with the principal, then go to the bus company and DEMAND to find out how they are going to resolve this issue so it NEVER happens again. If they don't respond to you, get on the phone or internet with the local news media and tell them about. They will have their investigative reports get to the bottom of it. At least, they owe you a written detail of their policy and procedures so this never happens again! I also think you should post the school district's name here so the public can be made aware of the school district to protect their children as well.

My kids aren't schoolage yet... but i think that you did the right thing and if nothing changes, send more letters, or go in person. Honestly we aren't going to have our children ride the school bus 'cause of things like this and other things that can or have happened to others on the bus. I hope all goes well.

I would call the station and school again and demand the that the drive get fired. My friends son was dropped off at the wrong stop in Rosemount and just under being a teenager he walked himself to Farmington before realizing he was going the wrong way. They didn't find him until the evening. What if those kids were killed by a car or taken by a preditor. His butt needs to be canned. Keep calling each day until you get answers as to why this happened and why he continues to drive.

I would call, not email, or even go in person, the school principal and the head of transportation for your school district. I would tell them what you want done (driver investigated and possibly fired) and that you will check back in a certain amount of time. I would tell them that if nothing is done by then, you will call the police and the new stations. I would have a hard time going 100% by the kids comments of the smell of smoke and alcohol, though. They are pretty little to know for sure, especially about the alcohol. I can see a new driver missing stops, but he should have gone back (ours has done that several times). If nothing gets done with in a day or two, I would call the police with names, dates, times, locations, etc, and let them handle it. I would not let it go, all the kids' safety is at risk and someone has to do something.

I agree about having to be your kid's advocate, you have to. I have had to call and complain about one of our bus drivers several times. Nothing as severe, but things that need reporting (missing stops, bad attitude, yelling at the kids, letting kids off at the wrong stop, etc).

Good luck! Keep at it. You have to keep those kids safe.
S.

You are NOT out of line. I would call the superintendent directly and tell him that you want an explanation and some answers as to how this could have happened. If he/she does not seem intent on investigating this, I would probably mention that Channel 9 does a good job investigating . . .

If we don't fight for the safety of our own children, who will! Imagine the liability and horror if the driver of that car either hit someone, or was a child sex offender and decided to stop! Good luck to you!

I would lodge a complaint with the mn department of education. I bet they would like to hear about that one. they are located on hwy 36 in roseville. Also I would call Kare 11 & have them do a story on it. No scholl district like bad publicity. Good luck

I don't think you're overreacting...I think I would probably feel the same way in your shoes. I agree with others; do what you need to until you get answers.

I think I would also call the police station and let them know. I would let them know the day, what time and where. Just in case the school board does nothing you have the compaint lodged with someone else, so they can not say that they hadnt heard of it.

You are absolutely not out of line. It is first and foremost the job of the parent to ensure their child's saftey at all times.

I would fist call the principle to make them aware, mentioning my intention to call the busing company. After getting the number from that person, I would then follow-up with the busing company and let them know you and the other neighborhood parents are watching this driver closely. If this was not the first offense, I would demand the driver be let go.
Good luck with your decision!
DMB
Oakdale

I think the school principal is the person you need to talk to first. That is information he/she really needs to know. I teach for Minneapolis Public Schools and we have a transportation person who can directly contact the head of transportation if we ever have a problem with a bus driver. I am in complete agreement with you -- the driver never should have let the kids off of the bus at the wrong stop. Sounds like they need more/better training. As a teacher and a parent, I am worried about my kids riding the bus when they start school...I know that a class of 25 kids keeps me more than busy -- I can't imagine having more kids (40,50+) to supervise AND staying focused on the road! I see a sign in my neighborhood that says BUS DRIVERS WANTED - no experience necessary. Yikes! Keep us posted!