What does a bus monitor do? I rode buses as a child, but we never had anyone but the driver.

[skip fox]

[Rambis]

1. 1970's the bus driver had a paddle and used it

just sayin

[LiberalLoner]

12. Yup. Or stopped the bus and let the miscreants walk to school.

[skip fox]

2. What are their theoretic duties? To make sure

no one misses the bus? That there is no violence?

[TBMASE]

3. They're just there to help the driver. When I was a kid

it was usually the parent of one of the kids on the bus who did it. They used to rotate so there would be a different parent every day...you never knew when it might be your neighbor or your own parent until you got on the bus to go home.

Of course when they went to the bus stop with you in the morning, you kind of knew who it was

[snooper2]

4. Make sure the seats don't move and nobody is hanging out the window

LOL

Our country back-woods bus driver used to let us wrestle in the back 8 seats or so

[kestrel91316]

5. When I was in grade school we had safety monitors on the buses.

Each year the best students got considered for the post - my sister was one and I got picked but we moved before I could serve.

They wore dorky white belts to identify themselves and theoretically were there to tell the other kids to sit down and not be disruptive so the driver could focus on driving. There were few occasions when they even seemed necessary. Kids weren't complete asses back in the 60's.

[woodsprite]

6. They are essentially the bus driver's "eyes in the back of his/her head"

They keep order in the bus, do write-ups of students, act as a second to the bus driver, and let the bus driver keep their eyes and attention on the road.

When I was in school there was this one hottie bus driver. Before my friend was dropped off at her stop, the bus driver made a side trip and stopped at the liquor store. That probably wouldn't have happened if an attendant had been on board. BTW, he eventually got in trouble for providing alcohol/drugs to minors

[hunter]

7. My high school bus ride was hell on earth.

I got thrown out a window once.

Once we had a bus driver quit halfway to school. He parked in front of a gas station, called his boss from a pay phone, lit a cigarette, and that was the last we saw of him. The school principal and a substitute driver delivered us.

Most days I'd get up an hour early so I could ride my bike.

When my wife was teaching she got assaulted on a school bus trying to break up a fight.

The USA is not a civilized nation in some places.

[LiberalLoner]

13. I'm sorry you went through that, that's awful. :(

[Cali_Democrat]

24. Sounds like our bus rides

We were so rowdy that they put a camera on the bus.

Our bus driver drove us back to school a few times because we were so wild. One day he just parked on the side of the road, phoned his boss and just left right then and there.

[southernyankeebelle]

8. This lovely lady wasn't doing her job. All the abuse that was going on should have been reported

to the principal. If she had done that some of those students would have been off the bus for awhile. She was trying to ignore it thinking it would go away. You know kids will push and push that button until enough is enough. I saw that one of the father's who saw his son being a bully was very upset with his son and ashamed. I am sure that his dad will take care of him. I didn't understand why the bus driver didn't stop the bus and take control of the situation.

[skip fox]

11. I did wonder. If she's a monitor, I figured, she must have some authority to report

unruly behavior.

I wonder why she didn't use it? Maybe too nice. I sympathize greatly regardless.

[southernyankeebelle]

29. Oh so do I. But think if she had done so from the beginning I don't think it would have gotten

that far. She is to nice for that job. God bless her.

[HockeyMom]

14. I agree

I am a Special Ed TA. She let it escalate. It has to be stopped immediately, because then all the other kids will see that they can get away with it too. Ignoring it is the worst thing she could have done. SHE is the authority figure and has to set the limits for the CHILDREN.

I don't mean to sound disrepectful to this woman, but she, and the driver, did not handle this right. I speak from experience on this. I have worked with At Risk Middle School boys. Cry in front of them? Oh, my, NEVER. That is the worst thing one could do. They will abuse YOU. You will get ZERO respect if you do that.

[MichiganVote]

16. Baloney. Plenty of times the transporation dept. responds to non violent situations

by getting all of the students to school and then they deal with the bad lot later in the day. Her job is not to earn the respect of students whether she is crying or not. The job of the kids is to sit down, shut up and ride to school.

The kids were plainly in the wrong 100%. By that age mine knew to respect adults. These kids can and should learn it too.

[HockeyMom]

18. Was this before or after school?

Was this a bus company or owned by the school? Were the drive and monitor employees of a bus company or the school? There is more leeway when the district owns the buses and the driver/monitors are school staff. I have seen buses bring disruptive students right back home in the mornings. Yes, they were late and I had to wait for the other kids. In the afternoon, they have brought the kids right back to the school, and their parents were called to pick them up. Yes, the parents were furious over this because they had to leave work, or get somebody else to take them home.

Ok, I will admit this is Florida. Different world here. Do your schools have full time deputies, with guns, walking around school? Detention? Deputy comes into detention, and talks to the kids. I suppose the theory with that is scare the hell out of them.

I love NY, but Florida is night and day to NY. It was a major shock for me going from NY schools to Florida schools.

And, once again, were these Mainstream or Special Ed kids? I still don't remember Bus Monitors in Middle School in NY, unless they were special needs kids.

[MichiganVote]

48. You know what? It doesn't matter whether these youth were Special needs or not.

These kids were 100% in the wrong. No if's, and's or but's. These kids deserve the consequences they get regardless of what state or city they live in, regardless of whether a company or a district provided transportation, regardless of what the bus driver or monitor did or was directed to do and regardless of how much or how often adults want to excuse these kids. IF the monitor was not their target this day, chances are they would have chosen another student.

These kids were in the wrong. And that's all the parents, the school district or transportation dept. or the taxpayers who provide their bony little asses a ride to their free and appropriate 12 year education program need to know.

I can assure you that in our house--they'd be walking and if it took getting up at 3am to get ready and out the door for school, that would be the easy part.

[HockeyMom]

54. Yes, the kids were wrong

but it's a Bus Monitor's JOB to MONITOR them. She lost control of them. You do know that she, too, could have been disciplined by the school? I have seen it. While she may be a sweet old lady, she failed in doing her job.

Yes, it's the parents responsibility FIRST, but if they don't do it? Who does? Nobody? Again, I have seen it. When a kid comes from a broken family, what do you suggest? I have worked with kids with juvenile records. Daddy is in prison. Mommy is a drug addict. Kid has ran away multiple times. 12 year old has been arrested for being out drunk at 2 AM. Kid has tried to kill Grandma at 10 years old. Not all kids have perfect lives with Mommy and Daddy at home to discipline them. Do you know what these kids home lives are? You cannot separate the child's school life from their home life. It will have a MAJOR effect.

By default, school becomes Mommy and Daddy with some of these kids.

[MichiganVote]

56. Yeah? So when junior turned on his video cam to please himself and his friends,

she had no control over that too? And when junior went home and posted the video on You Tube for the admiration of his friends, that was her fault too? Of course, the fact that junior didn't go home and say, 'Hey Ma and Pa, I've been an asshole today and I want to be disciplined' --of course that's the fault of this this woman.

Do you know why schools exist? They exist to provide junior with his K-12 free public education. They don't exist to be Mommy and Daddy to anyone's kid.

So guess what? These kids are to blame for their own sorry headed behaviors. If/when the District decides to reprimand the employee-fine. That's their choice. Afterall, its pretty evident that school personnel are no good these days unless they are Gods.

And yes, in my professional capacity, I know very well what the lives of some children are outside of school. But there is no information to show that any of these kids were prompted to behave this way b/c of a lousy home life. They pulled this shit with the full intent of being noticed and admired on YouTube.

[cwydro]

66. Exactly.

I cannot believe the excuses for these horrid nasty children on this thread.

[Lionessa]

17. I agree and am taking a lot of crap because of thinking she wasn't doing her job,

and worrying about her lack of effectiveness if it had been a student on the bus being bullied. She wasn't doing her job, and that may not be her fault altogether, but unless this was her day one, she had time to report, get better training/advise, etc.

[HockeyMom]

21. She probably would be better

on a bus with the Kindergarten kids, as more of a Grandma nurturing figure. Just my opinion. Seriously, Middle School kids are actually the most difficult. They THINK they are all grown up at that age. It's a very in between stage. They aren't little kids anymore, but they are not quite teenagers yet. It's a difficult age.

Personally, I would rather work in Elementary or HS.

[Lionessa]

23. I couldn't agree more. I actually pulle dmy kids and homeschooled through Jr High/Middle School.

That seems to be when the drugs and the drinking and much other mischief begins. It worked very well for my daughter who was clean and sober through out school, and probably helped with my son, though when he joined the HS sports, drinking became an issue.

[backscatter712]

37. Yeah, to deal with middle-schoolers, you have to be tough as nails.

Sounds like this monitor was a very nice lady, but just didn't enforce discipline like she needed to. I feel bad for her, but at the same time, think she'd probably do better in a different role.

I'd suggest bringing in R. Lee Ermey for dealing with this pack of brats...

[MichiganVote]

49. When the school district decides that these adults were in error--let us all know. Until then...

you're not in the driver seat and your opinion is no more credible than anyone else's is to you.

[Lionessa]

50. Like I would trust the district to do whats right, have you seen kids lately?

Oh, that's right, you're upset about the kids, but you're going to trust the school district officials, who are probably going to cover for the bus company so the rates don't get raised? Wow. Don't mind if I don't join you in such.

[MichiganVote]

52. I think you may have the crystal ball I don't. More power to you.

Sounds like you just generally don't trust schools or school officials.

[Lionessa]

53. What I know is that school districts are partially responsible for the state of kids these days.

And according to you, they are horrendous.

For the most part I agree that kids these days are horrendous, therefore I do not trust the school officials.

[MichiganVote]

55. I don't recall calling kids "horrendous", nor do I recall offering an opinion on school districts.

But for the record, my kids were praised each year they attended their public school for their courtesy and likability. I never dreamed that a school district was responsible for my children's moral and social development. My spouse and I did that. Our family did that. Glad it happened but it never occurred to either of us to rely on the school to do anything other than enjoy the behaviors we guided our kids toward.

And when they did wrong--they were held responsible for their choices. Not a district, not a teacher and not a principal. We were parents. 24/7-parents.

[Lionessa]

57. You must be very old then.

And you did give an opinion on the district when you tout them as the ones you'll trust to figure out what's wrong, or have I gotten my thread mixed up?

[MichiganVote]

63. You're as old as you feel. I expect parents AND districts to try to figure out what is wrong w/kids.

if or when an incident is school related. In this case what is wrong appears to be self evident. Have to go to a meeting. Good luck!

[cordelia]

58. Blaming the victim.

Disgusting.

[Lionessa]

59. No, you don't read, I blame the company that hired and didn't train her properly.

[southernyankeebelle]

31. I totally agree with you. She did every wrong. I feel the same way about it. Really she was

to nice to be in that job. I hate to say it but middle schoolers are really feeding off each other. By the way the one boy's dad was very upset with his son. He said he was ashamed of his son's action. I hope they find her another job to do inside the school.

[MichiganVote]

15. How do you know she didn't report them OR how do you know that she wouldn't have?

Or even, how do you know whether she was told to ignore the little brats?

You don't know what her job is to do or not do.

[southernyankeebelle]

25. Chill please. She said it herself. I read it before it hit this blog. She said she didn't want to

send the kids to jail. She also said she didn't report them. Her job is to report these situations. If she had done so in the beginning I don't think it would have gone this far. I am not blaming the victim. She is to nice to have this kind of job on a bus. Believe me I have worked around kids like this myself. I don't put up this kind of situation. I kick them out or some cases call their parents and tell them to pick up their kids. She is a Bus Monitor. That job entails keeping control of kids who don't behave.

[MichiganVote]

47. Exactly what would you suggest she should have done to control these shameful kids?

I think you are blaming the victim. These kids are responsible for their behavior. Not the monitor, not you and not me. If the school district believes that she was not doing her job, that's their call. Not yours.

[smokey nj]

22. Stop blaming the victim!

[southernyankeebelle]

26. I am not blaming the victim. I am giving you to facts. Don't shoot the messager.

I read on another blog that she didn't report the kids because she didn't want them to go to jail. What do you think the job of a Bus Monitor is? She was to good for that job.

By the way I just read on another blog that a bus driver and a bus monitor bullied this austic boy on the school bus. The mother put a hidden camera or recorder on the boy. These 2 pieces of shit should be fired.

[smokey nj]

30. You ARE blaming the victim.

[southernyankeebelle]

34. Yes I am blaming the victim. She didn't do her job. Don't shoot the messenger.

Listen I want a bus monitor who is going to do the right thing if a child is bullying another child on the bus. So far she has said on Fox and Friends that she doesn't like to confront people. My god she is in the wrong job if she isn't going to confront a student who is harming another student or even herself. She was hired to monitor the bus. I have nothing against this woman. She seems like a very lovely lady who is doing the job she isn't qualified to do. Get over it. If you honestly can say you would feel safe with your kid on a bus with a monitor or the bus driver not doing their jobs then I suggest you seek help.

[smokey nj]

36. She's had the fucking job for 20 years! Those little miscreants did what they did because they knew

there wasn't anything she could do about it.

[southernyankeebelle]

40. Maybe you should go over and watch the clip from Fox and Friends. She was on that show.

She didn't do her job. It is that simple. One year , 10 yrs, or 20 yrs. She didn't do her job. She said herself that she doesn't like confronting people. What the hell is she there for if not to protect other students? Just asking. Don't get f**king at me because I am telling you the facts. Would you be happy with her on your child's bus if there was bullying going on? I know I wouldn't be happy if she didn't do her job in protecting my child on the bus. Her job is to report these kinds of bullying.

[treestar]

42. even if she was not good at the job

those kids are responsible for what they did.

It is blaming the victim - you keep saying that this would not have happened had she handled the job differently. Making her responsible for their acts. Some kids are so bad that no one should be considered responsible for their not behaving.

Even someone "tough as nails" would not be allowed to hit those kids or kick their asses.

[smokey nj]

45. How the fuck do you know she didn't step in when students were being bullied?

[Posteritatis]

51. Stories like these are great for attracting people who know what "really" happened, aren't they?

Every time something like this springs up there's a few "we don't have the whole story, which I shall assume is as follows:" putzes, all so eager to say the victim had it coming based on how they looked/dressed/acted/etc.

[teamster633]

67. Who knows....

...you may have a point and you may not. What I do know is that I'm not going to jump over to a link from "Fox and Friends" to find out. It's really early in the morning...maybe I made a mistake...I meant to click on Democratic Underground...where am I?

[HiPointDem]

68. fox & friends? really?

[HockeyMom]

9. I don't remember Bus Monitors after Elementary school

I have worked in both NY and Florida. It's the Special Ed kids who have Bus Monitors to specifically deal with the behavior issues these kids can have. Were some or all of these kids special needs kids? I wonder.

Many times the media picks up on these kinds of stories and doesn't give out all the information.

[Quantess]

10. The first day I rode the bus home in kindergarten

I was terrified of the other kids. (I was a timid bookworm.) After that my parents usually picked me up and drove me to school, for a couple of years.

[randome]

19. Taser specialist.

[Romulox]

20. Imagine being surrendered to that mob every day from grades 1-9, while teachers "didn't notice"?

[exboyfil]

27. That is one of the reasons that anti public school movements get started

I went through the same type of hell up to 10th grade (even bullied at the start of 10th grade). I love that my state has liberal Homeschool laws and relatively easy open enrollment. We now have a virtual academy in the state as well. All of these options are useful for situations that are shown.

I don't know what the solution is as a society. I really think getting the good kids away from those who prey upon them is the best option (lends itself to zero tolerance).

My kids refuse to ride the bus. We have enough flexibility in our schedules to address their needs. They don't ride the bus for the same reasons as shown on the video. I have been close to pulling them out and Homeschooling (actually have Homeschooled my younger daughter about 1/3 time the last two years).

[southernyankeebelle]

28. What's more scarer is some of those teachers going along with the bullying and encouraging it.

Like where the teacher in a class had the very young students take turns hitting a little boy who bullied. What a fine example of professional teaching. They said some of the kids didn't want to hit him. She didn't care she made them do it anyway.

[Romulox]

70. I've been struck by more than one teacher as well. It was legal, some time ago... nt

[FarCenter]

32. With all the unemployed people that are available, why hire a fat, 68-year old grandmother?

There must be young, large, physically fit, intimidating people available. Someone recently out of Attica who needs a break?

[coalition_unwilling]

43. You are a fucking asshole - n/t

[Brother Buzz]

33. Our driver was a WWll Marine with tattoos up one arm and down the other

and chain-smoked while he drove. We didn't need no stinking bus monitors.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

39. Ours just jammed on the brakes.

[coalition_unwilling]

44. Well, if he chain-smoked while he drove, you definitely

did not need any 'stinking' bus monitors

[FarCenter]

46. Mr Hicks was a Korean War vet

The only time I saw him shaken was when the brakes failed as we approched a T intersection. We went through the ditch and about 100 yards into the cornfield. Some bruised kids but no broken bones.

[pinboy3niner]

38. We didn't have a monitor, but one time the bus driver busted my ass

All of us kids on the bus were yelling, but at one point everybody else became quiet, leaving me the only one yelling.

The bus driver scolded ME, and not the others, and instructed me to report to my teacher what I had done.

I still have my elementary school yearbook with my teacher's inscription, "Be better on the bus"--her (quite accurate) quote of what I told her the bus driver had said to me.

I posted this story once before, thinking that "Be better on the bus" might be a nice way to to respond to DU squabblers. It didn't catch on.

[DaveHee]

41. 1965

I would like to relate an experience I had in New Delhi India on a 'school' bus. This was an international school, diplomatic kids mostly from various countries and locals as well. The bus had a driver in the front, and a conductor in the back (there was a back door as well).

One day we all got on the bus at the school, and the bus left the school grounds to deliver us to various places in the southern region of town. One adolescent kid took the turban off of the head of the conductor. Shouts and exclamations! The driver turned the bus around and went back to the school grounds, and we were held in the bus by the driver and conductor until various embassies and affiliate organizations were dispatched to express their sincere apologies and assure the conductor that the affront to his person would not go unpunished.

Essentially we were held hostage until reparations were made. No similar incident occurred in the remaining two years I spent riding that bus!

Daif

[proud2BlibKansan]

60. They help supervise the kids.

Some insurance companies require monitors.

[Nevernose]

61. They're supposed to maintain order and enforce discipline

So that the bus driver can do their job. The kids are SO out of control in some places that our society has come down to "bus monitors." It seems to me to be a widespread breakdown in parenting combined with an almost total inability of a school district to (effectively) do anything even remotely consider discipline.

No, I'm not advocating corporal punishment.

[Kaleva]

62. When the bus driver smoked, the older boys in the back could smoke.

The bus driver also kept a tire iron near him if he needed it to deal with any of the older boys who got too rowdy.

Those were the days when one could bring a gun to school.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

64. In the 80's they were there to watch kids as they crossed the street

In RI, we had a young girl who wnet under a bus to get her hat and was killed. After that.....all thru elementary and middle school, bus monitors would get off the bus ahead of us, and watched us cross the street, then double checked under the bus before boarding again.

[Populist_Prole]

65. We never had bus monitors, except in very early emementary school

The bus drivers were always the school custodians, usually gruff men in their 40's and 50's; and they didn't take any shit from even the worse wannabe badass.

[Snotcicles]

69. They are there to Witness. nt