🚀 go-pugleaf

Larry.... you are partly right, but the ones at fault are not the students,
or the teachers, but in fact the parents!  The attitude and character of
children are fairly well formed BEFORE they start school.  The school can at
best, only re-inforce what the parents MAY have instilled at home.
Unfortunately, by now, it is too late for any meaninful changes.
Regards, Lee

Back in the good old days, people that drove school buses were called
"bus drivers".  They were not houswives with nothing better to do in the
afternoon.

The men that drove me to school in my formative years were the type that
did not take crap from anyone.  You knew when you got on that bus who
was in charge.  As time went bye, my school district fired all of the
"bus drivers", as they also owned the buses that they drove.  Instead,
they went to the politically correct system of placing bids and had a
large corporation provide bus service.  This is when the housewives
appeared on the scence.  What ensued was panamonium.  Also, it was
interesting when the state police appeared unannouced at the bus depot
to inspect the buses for themselves (it was rumored that the inspections
done by the garages were not really being done).  This time, the
majority of the buses were taken out of service until repairs could be
made to make them street legal.

Also, when the corporate bus company filed bankruptcy, we were once
again without service.

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.

There are two separate issues here.  Student behavior can be
aggravating--it's just the nature of school aged kids, I'm
afraid.  But slammming on the brakes in a fit of rage is
utterly irresponsible, perhaps criminally so.  The driver's
husbands statements trying to justify it smell like lies to
me.  It is ineresting that this case is being heard in juvenile
court.  Is this driver so very young or does it fall in the
area of juvenile protection?

-- 
Serf			tomb nor stone nor grave for me
(andy sims)		just a bier up in a tree
acs6j@virginia.edu	to let the cold wind take me in 

NightSerf wrote in message <7dsto1$9c6$1@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>...
>There are two separate issues here.  Student behavior can be
>aggravating--it's just the nature of school aged kids, I'm
>afraid.  But slammming on the brakes in a fit of rage is
>utterly irresponsible, perhaps criminally so.  The driver's
>husbands statements trying to justify it smell like lies to
>me.  It is ineresting that this case is being heard in juvenile
>court.  Is this driver so very young or does it fall in the
>area of juvenile protection?

In some jurisdictions, crimes committed by, as well as AGAINST, kids are
handled in juvi court.

Larry

This is part of a disturbing trend (universal but especially in VA) to make
every little offense a FELONY.

I hope that bus driver has enough sense to stop talking.   All she has to do
is say she hit the brakes to avoid striking a white dog which had crossed in
front of her but.

Cops say this all the time when they have an accident that they can't blame
on something else.

This should be a lesson for anybody in VA.   If a cop asks you ANYTHING
other than your name and address either "don't remember" or say you want to
consult an attorney.

If that bus driver had kept her mouth shut, the little bastards in the back
of her bus would have learned that if they mess with her they go thru the
winshield.   Now they know that some ASSHOLE of a state cop will put the
driver in jail if she stands up to them!

_______________________
President Clinton is a Rapist!  -- But, that's OK.

John Gilmer@Crosslink.net