🚀 go-pugleaf

Larry Helfand <helfand@bdts.nospam.com> wrote:
>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."


Well if it were me driving those knuckleheads I would have aimed the bus 
at a cliff, mashed the excelerator and jumped out at the last second 
leaving the knucklheads and the bus going airborn off the cliff.