Dear Editor,
I’d like to ask your readers and any officials who may be reading this, a question. Why is there no supervision on the school buses in town? My son came home yesterday saying how some boys on the bus got into a fight and threw one of them to the floor. What is going on? I’m completely outraged. How can children sit on a bus (sometimes over an hour) without anyone watching over them? And the bus driver is not to blame. He or she has a responsibility to drive the bus and not to babysit the children. I think this is a serious issue which the Board Of Education or the likes, should deal with immediately. I don’t think we should wait for a child to come home with scars from an innocent bus ride to or from school.
Signed,
A concerned and outraged mother.
Readers’ Scoop: Why Don’t School Buses Have Supervision?
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why are children getting out of their seats on the bus either side of the fight. i know children are just children but arent there seat belts
i have much bigger concerns then kids fighting on a bus. how about the fact that your chid can be the last one alone with the bus driver. not that im saying there is something wrong with most if any bus driver but there have been stories.
Of course the point you make is absolutely true. However, think this through. Who would pay for it? The schools as we know are pennyless as it is. We can’t in good conscious ask them. The BOE is also out of money. If we did force it we would end up paying out of our own pockets.
Truth be told it should be the parents responsibilty to arrange and finance.
We need to start realizing that we and we alone are responsible to pay for our children.
One Mosad Head recently told me that it cost on average 8,000 to 10,000 per boy and full tuition is 5000. Which of course is rarely paid in full.
We need some serious thought on this issue.
if u have a problem y dont u volunteer and sit on busses every day stop complaining shut ur mouth allready what u gona complain abt next when u were younger u didnt have supervision on the bus either mb thats y ur so annoying
My wife DID volunteer to be a bus monitor for our daughter’s school – she was told that the BOE insurance doesn’t cover passengers other than the driver and students.
Schools and Parents together need to promote school bus safety at the very least and midos and kiddush hashem foremost. With proper education in this matter combined with incentives/contests and possibly even punishments when need be – this very real and true problem would be nearly non existant.
That is just ONE of many reasons I drive my children to school.
Its a very big problem! Not the fighting but no supervision on the DRIVER! There is more than one story drivers talking to kids doing damage to thier neshumas! A while ago there was a big tumel about that after there was some victims… And thats why they had make a big issue to try having Heimishe drivers. The main problem is the board of ed does NOT allow moniters on the bus even at no cust to them!
I am going to mention at the next VAAD meeting that it become mandatory to have a Buff unit on each bus to ensure safe transportation of the students.
TLS refuse to publish the truth on their site. I know why.
Yudel
PS The Emes is not your goal, you have to be politically correct.
yup. That’s why I also bend over backwards, when it is extremely difficult for me to do private transportation even though my children are elligible for transportation. I have 3 different schools that start at 9….
and pickup, is really challenging too.
There is so much that goes on on buses, that we do’nt want to know about – both boys and girls. No supervision is exactly that. As I’ve heard from many sources different Gedolim saying “the busride to/from school, throws out the maalos tovos they learned in school”
I even know someone who send their children to not their first choice cheder to avoid transportation, as it’s close to their house, parents can walk them
I know of one school where, if there is any problematic behavior on the bus, the driver pulls over, and calls the menahel (it could also be a rebbe who rotates being on call). The menahel then takes the child off the bus and drives him home, taking the opportunity to discuss his behavior.
Of course, this is a private bus. I think the Board of Ed has to decide it’s worth paying insurance on a bus monitor. The parents can volunteer.
“Heimische drivers” isn’t sufficient. Under no circumstances should a driver, “heimische” or otherwise be alone with a child on a bus, yet this happens daily at the beginning and more dangerously at the end of routes.
Great question! I’m especially concerned when the primary grades come home alone as there are not even older students who can monitor. This is a very serious issue,I hope the proper people are informed and act on this.
My daughter’s bus driver stopped her full bus at a construction site and got off the bus to use a porter potty, leaving the children unattended. Many children were crying, especially when an older woman who lived nearby came up to the bus shouting “where is your bus driver, I’m going to call the police”. (I wish she would have done just that instead of just scaring the children). When the bus driver returned she told all the children that they are not allowed to tell their parents about it.
The school was notified and the bus company fired the driver. That was at the end of last school year. Guess what, the bus driver was rehired by the same company for this school year.
one word.
money.
The board of ed doesn’t allow it.
Where did tha head of that Mosad come up with 5,000-10,000 per student. 27 kids x 3,200 = $86,400 that should easily cover any girls schools payroll plus “housing” and my 3,200 is low on some standard rates. I picked a happy average. I forgot about the 20,000,000 that the state gave the VAAD to give for school funding that I am sure the Mosdos also received.
LkwdDad, You should fight this. It is disturbing to hear that the bus company rehired that lunatic. If I were you, I’d threaten to get the news involved if this person is not fired. I’m a parent too, and will be right there with you, by your side, and fight this thing.
It’s very simple. Let’s go to the next Board of Ed meeting and insist that coverage for a monitor be added to their insurance.
Better yet, those who are associated with a school administration, call your insurance company and get some facts. It makes no sense that an insurance company would charge more for an adult on the bus who will ensure the children’s safety. But if it does cost a bit more, how much could it be?
Eli for busdriver!
Why is everyone complaining about the Lakewood BOE. They have no control over private schools. Are these the same parents that complained about cookie monster doing his job when the kid acted up. If you put a monitor on the bus and your kid gets in trouble you will say they are wrong for doing there job also.
All of you non-public school parents that are complaining about behavior should start right at home. If you want an aide on a bus then when route specifications are drawn up, they have to be the Bid Specifications. Now this will cause problems. The price of the per diem for the route being bid on can cause an increase. Why should I as a tax payer pay for this when discipline should start at home. If the parent can’t handle this why would you expect an aide to do it. I witnessed many a bus load of non-discipline jewish boys and saw how they can destroy a bus with garbarge thrown around soda being spilled. They don’t know what a garbarge can is.