🚀 go-pugleaf

I am shocked to read about this school bus driver who was charged with a
crime after she took the kids back to school and stopped suddenly. I
drove a school bus for four (4) years and know exactly what she was
exposed to. 

The school bus drivers are responsible for transporting the students
from home to school, in a safe manner. At least a dozen times I turned
my bus around and took the children back to school and demanded the
principal *remove* certain children! The Jr. High/Middle School students
were the worse ones!

Maybe if the parents, teachers, and school workers took more
responsiblity for their actions and taught these brats how to behave,
this wouldn't have happened! 

Enough is enough - don't blame the school bus driver for the actions of
a few ill-mannered children! The children should have been charged with
cruely, bit the driver.

Larry Helfand
Arlington, Va.

The Article========>>>>>>

Bus Driver Accused of Cruelty
Pr. William Students Injured by Sudden Braking
 
By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 30, 1999; Page B01
 
A Dale City middle school bus driver was charged
yesterday with cruelty to children and reckless driving
after police said she got upset at her students and
slammed on the brakes, injuring several children,
including a 12-year-old whose arm was fractured.
 
Prince William County police arrested Barbara Hensley,
36, of Dale City, charging her with a felony in
connection with the incident, which happened two weeks
ago. Hensley was released on her promise to appear for a
hearing Thursday in juvenile court.
 
Hensley -- who through her husband yesterday called the
charges unfounded and based on a misunderstanding -- was
driving about 25 students home from Beville Middle
School the afternoon of March 17 when she brought the
bus to a sudden stop, according to police spokesman
Dennis Mangan.
 
Mangan said Hensley "became aggravated at some of her
passengers, and she hit the brakes on the bus very
hard," tossing students around the interior and causing
several minor injuries including bruises and cuts.
School buses are not equipped with seat belts.
 
Children who were riding the bus that afternoon said the
incident occurred a few minutes after the bus left
Beville before 3 p.m. Hensley was turning the bus onto
Langstone Drive -- apparently to drive the children back
to the school -- when the bus came to a sudden stop.
 
Megan Salinas, 12, tore a ligament in her right elbow
and dislodged a bone fragment in her arm when she
slammed into a bus seat during the sudden stop, her
mother said. She couldn't write for more than a week.
 
"She had been cussing at us, so everyone was saying that
she shouldn't have cussed," Megan said. "She pulled over
and told us that she was going to take us back to the
school. After she started up again, she stopped really
fast and said, 'Shut up, I mean it!' "
 
Hensley's husband, Gary, said she could not speak on the
phone yesterday because of illness. But he said the
charges are wrong and result from a misunderstanding of
what happened.
 
Gary Hensley, who said his wife has been driving a bus
for eight years and has "an exemplary record," said that
she stopped suddenly because she thought something was
wrong. He said that Hensley has been suspended from
driving pending an investigation.
 
"She was driving the kids home -- it wasn't her normal
route -- and they were very loud and swearing at her and
calling her names," Gary Hensley said. "Then one
screamed at the top of her lungs, and she was startled
and hit her brakes. She would never want anyone to get
hurt, ever."
 
Dominick Graziano, principal of Beville, said yesterday
he was unaware that charges had been filed against
Hensley. He said that school officials had been working
with parents of the children who were on the bus to
determine what happened. Graziano said about 700 of the
school's 1,100 children take buses to and from school,
and he said it didn't surprise him that middle school
students could have been acting up on a bus.
 
"We're dealing with adolescents, number one, and there
is a type of behavior that is associated with
adolescents," Graziano said. "When it gets to a point of
that behavior disrupting a driver's concentration, those
students are referred to an administrator at the school
level, and it is dealt with as with any other behavioral
issue at the school."
 
Linda Salinas, Megan's mother, said that she has written
letters to school and county officials about the
incident. She said that after Megan's arm was injured,
no one offered her help and she was sent home without
medical attention.
 
"I am angry that she slammed on the brakes, that she
lost her cool and in the way that it was handled,"
Salinas said. "Every day I put my kids on the bus and
expect them to get safely to school. Should I have to
worry that the driver is going to lose control with the
kids? It could have been a lot more serious."