What to do about a mean school bus driver?

Question

My 6 year old daughter rides the school bus home everyday ... They leave the school at 3 and she gets to her grandma's house at about 3:30 or a lil after until i get off work and come and get her .... Her school bus driver is a very mean man .. My daguhter tells me he screams all the time and hollers at them to shut up ( not mind you I do NOT tell my daughter to shut up at home I do not like another man telling her to shut up on the school bus ... He has even thrown away a paper airplain a friend of hers made her .... They were not throwing it he just made it for her to take home ... He constantly screams and gets my daughter very upset and sad to the point where she cries to me when i pick her up ... Personally I think this is mental child absuse my creaming all the time ... He screams so loudly people outside the bus can hear him .. Children are not allowed to colorin in books, talk to anyone in front or hehind them .. Its a little ridiculous ..

I have spoken to his supervisor 4 times and today they want me to sit down and talk with the bus driver himself ... I fell like a child who is taddleing on someone instead of a concerned parent .l. atleast that is how the superindendent of the school made me feel yesterday .. This with the bus driver has been going on for a while now!

Answer 1

I WOULD SUE HIM OR STAB HIM TO DEATH!! EITHER WAY, HE WILL DESERVE WHAT HE GETS!!.....hope i helped.

Answer 2

You need to hear both sides of the story.

It is NOT right to tell a child to "Shut Up". And if he can be heard outside the bus, he is too loud. But, he is responsible for the welfare of those children, and he needs to be able to drive in a calm and relaxed bus.
He has no right to take an item from a child, perhaps she should have put the plane into her bag.

How long has the driver worked at the school? Has he been reported before? Have you spoken to the other parents? Does this happen regularly, or was it a one-off case, and now your daughter is frightened that it may happen again? Is she upset when she arrives at her Grandmothers house, or is it just when you arrive - more like a reaction to the fact that she misses you? Has she been catching the bus for long? - Is her story related more to the fact that she would prefer a different after-school routine?
I can understand the rules about colouring. On our school bus, the children are not allowed to have food, drinks or pens out. (There are signs at the front of the bus). Other toys are usually supposed to be in bags because bits may get dropped - a child gets up from their seat to retrieve it - and distracts the driver. And if the children are talking to the children in other seats, they are probably not seated correctly - a safety issue.

It's a hard one, you need to decide if you truly trust the man with the welfare of your child. If you believe that it is abuse, then get her off the bus. If you believe that he is otherwise a trustworthy driver, then have a talk to your daughter about bus courtesy. Does she have a special friend that she always sits with? Or an older child on the bus that can watch over her?

Good Luck. :)

Answer 3

Okay... number one: he should NEVER say the words, "Shut up" to the children. He is supposed to be a professional. I would ask his supervisor if there was a camera on the bus with audio. Sometimes you'll be surprised what you see and hear... I am not saying that your child isn't telling the truth, but they could be stretching it or leaving out important information.

Number two: He is allowed to tell the children that they cannot speak to the person in front of or behind them. While the child is on the bus, they are to be seated the entire time and facing the front. If they are speaking to the person in front of or behind them.. someone is obviously breaking this rule. Also, I really understand where he is coming from when he says no coloring books. Children love to draw on seats, windows, the floor... etc. and sometimes they drop things and crayons wind up smeared all over the floor.

Number three: The engine of a bus is incredibly loud. He may not realize how loud he is being, because he is yelling loud enough for himself and the children to hear... but may be over doing it without knowing. Usually, children don't even hear the driver the first time, so the driver has to get louder to get their attention.

I hope the meeting goes well. Try to be open and understanding. He might not be as bad of a person as you thought... but he might turn out to be the person you thought he was. Having a job like that for many years can really wear on a person, whether they are aware of it or not. He might feel bitter deep down, but not realize he is taking it out on the children. By going to his supervisor, you did the right thing. The next step is director of transportation... next step school board. Good luck!

Answer 4

It may be that the complaint process for your child's bus company is to have a conference meeting for situations like this. I would still go, you have the responsibility of your child's welfare to uphold. By not attending you may be telling them that the situation isn't really as bad as you said, silence is acceptance, as they say. As for the driver, he is supposed to be professional. "Shut up" is not supposed to be in his vocabulary. He can, however, enforce seating and riding policies that say a child must sit facing forward and maintain classroom behavior (that includes speaking volume: no screaming or loud, distracting noises). The safety of all those on the bus depends upon the driver being able to drive without distraction. Go to the meeting, have all of your concerns written down so that you can give them a copy for his file. Sometimes bully drivers continue to get away with improper behavior because no one is willing to speak up and say that there's a problem. If your driver says he has some obnoxious kids on board and that's why he's so mean, request that those specific children get reprimanded or removed from the bus so that the rest of the kids don't have to suffer. That's what he's supposed to do, not terrorize the whole bus because of a few. Good Luck and I hope you get this all straightened out.

Answer 5

I have worked in the school district for 7 years. This is what you do. Go to the district office. If you do not know where this is located, then call the school office and ask them for the address and phone number. Call and make an appointment with the superintendent. Tell him or her, that you are having this problem and feel that this person is abusive. Let them know that you expect action to be taken and that if you do not see a change in the behavior of this bus driver, then you will contact the other parents and take further action. Write a letter of complaint to the Board of Education and ask other parents to sign in agreement...the more signatures the better. Good luck with this.

Answer 6

First of all, please try and put yourself into the bus drivers shoes. It can't be easy to have a bunch of screaming kids in back of you while trying to drive in safe manner. I suggest that you talk to your daughter, Explain to her that the bus driver has a very serious job and it's a very important one. Any one that distracts the driver is in fact putting everyones safety at risk. Bottom line is this, as long as he is a good bus driver, he does not necessarily need to have the best behavior. If he yells, it's probably because he needs to make sure that the kids hear him over all of their voices. A regular school bus can have 72 children on it. What would you do if you had 72 kids in an area the size of a livingroom? I think that you would probably want to pull out your hair!

Your daughter is obviously a very sensitive child. Talk to her, Explain that as long as she does what she's supposed to on the bus, the driver will not yell at her. If he does, then call the bus company, not the school board!

Answer 7

It can get a little stressful for a bus driver when the safety of the children is in his hands,he has to concentrate on the road and he needs complete silence while crossing the railroad tracks.And we know how rowdy children can get at times.It sounds like the job for him is too stressful and he doesn't know how to handle the children in a proper and positive way.He needs to have an assistant on the bus with him to help control and keep an eye on the children while he is concentrating on the road, maybe you should contact the school administration to discuss what can be done about this problem, your daughter probably isn't the only one that is going threw this.

Answer 8

Speak to the administration at your school. Usually one of the vice principals is in charge of school bus administration and that is who you should speak to first. Hopefully the bus driver will be reprimanded or fired. If this does not work, ask to speak to the principal of the school. Continue following the chain of command up through the school board to the superintendant if you have to. No one should be subjected to abuse by a school employee. The important thing to remember is to tell your child what to do if the bus driver ever makes her feel physically threatened. Let her know that she did the right thing by telling you what happened with the verbal abuse and that you are making sure it is resolved. Make sure she knows not to confront the bus driver about the situation herself (that will probably single her out for further targeting by the driver). Most importantly, if you are able to have someone else pick her up from school until the situation is resolved please do so. I am so sorry you and your daughter are going through this situation and I hope that driver gets fired.

Answer 9

If you can, find out if any other parents have heard the same thing from their little ones. If you have and like you said, you can hear him screaming at the kids, I would complain to the school and insist they complain to the bus company - he's probably not the right person for the job! Then again, if he manages to keep them in their seats through his shouting, he might be quite a safe bus driver!?!

Answer 10

Obviously report him to the school board. If they don't take action to remove him than go to the other parents that have children on the bus and get a petition to have him removed.
If you have 4 complaints against him and nothing has been done than you need to get the other parents behind you and file a formal written complaint. It is not your responsibility to confront the bus driver.
It might be a good idea to look into the supervisor also based on his response to the complaints.

Answer 11

You need to file a complaint with the school district. Make sure you tell them you do not appreciate the bus driver violating your daughter's rights as a person. Express how serious you are with this issue. Sometimes, school districts will blow things off like it's no big deal. I would definately file an abuse complaint. This is not ok.

Best wishes.