A school bus driver in Lakewood is under fire today after allegedly grabbing a girls arm on the bus, TLS has learned.
According to sources, the 10th grade girl walked onto a school bus holding a cup of coffee, when the bus driver allegedly grabbed the girl’s arm, grabbed away the coffee, and then continued to scream at the girl.
The parents of the victim, as well as the parents of a girl who witnessed the incident, phoned the bus company, who reportedly said they would be investigating the incident and reviewing footage.
TLS reached out to the bus company for comment, but as of this publishing time, has not yet heard back.
Today, another bus driver took this bus route, and when asked by students why he was driving them today, he acknowledged that it was due to an incident with the regular driver.
It’s unknown at this time if the driver was suspended pending the outcome of the investigation, or he was just switched to another route.
The father of one of the girls who witnessed the alleged incident tells TLS he hopes this will serve as a serious warning to bus drivers, and as an awareness for parents.
”There have been numerous incidents with this driver in the past, but we’ve shrugged it off, saying kids will be kids,” the father said. “But once it escalated to physical contact, it was something we absolutely needed to report. I’m encouraging parents of all students to report all incidents involving bus drivers to ensure it does not escalate to anything like this again.”
The bus driver’s actions are absolutely uncalled for. There is no excuse for physically grabbing a student. But…..I suspect that this wasn’t the first (or second) time the driver warned the kids not to bring food or drinks on the bus. Again, that’s not a good excuse but let’s hear the other side before assuming the bus driver is just a violent maniac.
Many years ago, I rented a home to a woman who drove a bus for one of our mosdos. I was wrong in trusting that the bus company or school had properly vetted this woman. My property was set on fire! After the fire, I found despicable and grotesque writings about “unzerer”. I alerted both the bus company and the school. Regrettably, I don’t know if and what action the bus company or school took. May the שומר ישראל protect us from all harm.
I read the article and both comments.
I fully agree with everyone.
I thought it might be a good idea to mention also as a side note that maybe children should not bring an open drink on the bus so the driver won’t get nervous.
I am in no way saying the bus driver was right,, but I will stick up for drivers and not the students! I am a parent, not a bus driver, but I do know the bus drivers have had it over their head with our kids!! I don’t know this specific story, but working in an office of a local school, I hear the drivers complaints! How many times does a kid have to be told NO FOOD OR DRINKS on bus??? And this is a tenth grader! Where is our decency? How do we educate our kids regarding authority? On the bus, the driver is the authority to be listened to! Is that so hard? To come to school without your “sacred” warm cocoa or coffee??? It’s time our kids start behaving! We have so few bus drivers willing to work in our town, with the traffic and accidents daily! At least the kids should be on their best behavior!
I’ll bet the girl brought coffee day after day, and each day the driver asked her not to. Finally, on that fateful morning, for whatever reason, he snapped. No excuses, but I’ll bet there are 2 sides to this story.
Teach your kids to respect people and follow the rules.
If you choose not to, don’t cry afterwards.
I have a child on a special need bus! It’s scary how some of the drivers don’t deserve to drive children, and definitely not special need ones!! Unfortunately calling bus company does not help as there understaffed and are desperate for drivers!!! A lot of this drivers are not capable of dealing with children!! So a kid came on the bus with coffee tell her you won’t continue driving till she dumps it….why be physical?!? I have seen drivers being physical on the special need bus tooo……CRAZY!! I hope my child gets to school safely everyday …as she can’t exactly explain to me what happens when I’m not there!!!
Why is there no food or drinks on the bus?
I keep seeing people saying this like the rule makes any sense.
This rule is a basic safety rule. I have been on school trips, and supervisor for bussing services.
The no food: a child may begin to choke, items get thrown at other children, trash is left on the bus and the seats.
The no drinks: drinks get spilled on the seats, spilled on the floor, thrown at other children, and spilled on the floor.
Who is left to clean up this mess? The driver who is on a tight time constraint for his/her next pick up?
I am not defending the driver; however, there are reasons for this rule.
And yes…..we are responsible for the actions of our children. Follow rules……it makes life so less complicated.
And allergies. Coffee allergies are rare, but if she brings her coffee, he can bring his juice.
“His juice is fine, why can’t we bring pretzels if they’re not making a mess?”
“Well it isn’t fair that they bring pretzels, while my kid is hungry, and all he eats is peanut butter.”
And suddenly that driver with bus training, but not kid training, also has to add playing doctor until hatzolah arrives.
Because kids leave trash and spill sticky drinks. It would happen every day. That is why.
Chocking hazard, leaving garbage on bus, make a mess have bus driver needs to clean, allergies. Just to be a few. I’m a bus driver and the kids on my bus know the rules no food or drink. I have a student who is highly allergic to smell of peanuts. I don’t want any child to have allergic reaction on my watch.
It’s a safety issue. One it’s a coking hazard and in specific districts you can’t do anything but call emergency services which can be too late. They can spill the drink or food on the floor or another student which a child can become a hazardous injury. Also their garbage which they don’t throw away becomes a projectile hazard threw out the vehicle and can roll under the drivers legs and get stuck under the gas pedal or even the brake.
So the bus driver won’t have to clean up afterwards. Does that make any sense to you, Any?
Because whose to clean up the mess they leave after??? And mess there is, so thus the policy was born. No food or drink!!
Do you want to clean up after 40 kids that were eating and drinking on a bus that’s bouncing up and down & starting & stopping?
I have a family member, a retired corrections officer who worked in a state prison.
He drove a bus for a short amount of time after retiring and said, without a doubt he would much rather deal with the prisoners than the students on the bus.
I am a teacher and seeing how students behave in the classroom, I don’t think I would ever want to drive a bus!
I think this says some thing (not so nice) about the students.
On the NJ transit bus it says no food or drinks when I was in 10 the grade I had rides from my father and then I walked back home from school but today not even parents are allowed to grab their kids like this individual did
We recently had a thankfully not physical incident with our daughter’s (2nd grade) bus driver, after he told her that she can’t ride the bus for a week becuase he thought that she said something insulting to him.
I contacted the school, and was told that there are not enough drivers in lakewood, so if he gets fired then there is no driver, we need him more than he needs us.
I was told to bring him a danish and an ice coffee.
This problem would all go away if the bus companies started paying drivers more, then more normal people would be interested in being drivers. but if a difficult job pays $35/hour, which kind of people will want to do it? only those who have no other “route” in life…
1)Without regard to this story. A bus driver is responsible for the safety of all passengers on their bus. If a driver feels that a certain passenger creates a difficult situation to control the safety of the other passengers they have the right to refuse to take that passenger. This is true with public transportation as well.
2)$35 a hr? Where did you get that number from? Also, where is the money to pay the bus drivers coming from? The money companies get from the LSTA will not cover any higher pay. This money has to cover the driver plus operating expenses per run which is not cheap.
I think what the driver did was 100% wrong but on the other hand look at these kids, give attitude in speaking, in ways that they shouldn’t my mother raise me, saying you don’t have to like everybody, but do it at your own expense. If the driver says no food or drink on the bus, a rule is a rule If you can’t raise your kids, to be polite and listen, then that’s a tremendous chinnuch issue, and chances are you are not saying everything that your daughter did wrong she and her parents(not sure if you or your wife) probably yelled at the driver also or was like what’s the issue with my daughter bringing food and drink on the bus.
I think this should be taken as a lesson for the future to listen to rules.
And we are living in gallus so we have to do the upmost to show that we are hashems children I think that this is a very good example that people should change their ways of behaving and acting towards other people.
No one dealing with minors can touch them that way. It’s assault. He should be charged.
A balanced and trained adult knows how to speak to children even when they are doing what they shouldn’t do.