Father Storms Bus, Confronts Disabled Daughter's Bullies

[CarrieBean]

Those little chits are lucky the Dad didn't get physical with them. I have a boy with CP and can totally relate. It's been tempting to wring some necks over the years. If he had been hospitalized over it, I just may have.

I say give the Father a medal.

 

[mistressammie]

It is so heartbreaking for a child to be bullied. When I was in 9th grade, one of the bully girls suddenly decided she hated me. She told me to shut up one day when I was saying something and I told her I'd say whatever I wanted. She came to my desk and started to say something and I said, "Look...if you want to go outside, we'll go right now. Otherwise, you can go back to your seat and leave me alone."

Not too long after that, she decided we were friends. *Shakes head.* Children can be so cruel. As a mother of two young children, I can totally identify with this dad. I teach my children to take up for themselves, but in the case of this father's child, she couldn't really take up for herself. Bless his heart for trying to protect his daughter.

 

[annalia]

I'm going to have to be careful how I post this, I don't want anyone to think I'm a criminal here. I support this father for trying to protect his daughter 100%. I feel that he did do something wrong however. I feel that he should have taken the three boys, who were abusing his daughter, by the nap of their necks and taken them off the bus so that he could scare the living hell out of them and make them look him in the eyes so that they know that he is dead serious. I was really pizzzzzed at one of the boy's mother who was so angry that he threatened her son. She was not concerned or apologetic for her brat son's abuse of the little girl. She was mad that someone actually tried to do her sorry job for her. I also think that the bus driver should be held to task for allowing the little girl to be abused on that bus. The school should be held fully accountable for not taking these punks off of the bus and forbid them to ride the bus. Why weren't the punks arrested for the abuse and assaults?

My bolding

And that's precisely the reason we have so many bullies. So many parents want to say not my kid or the kid being bullied probably deserved it.

 

[reportertype]

I went to a small, rural school and the bullying there was just as bad as anyplace else. I was bullied and my complaints about it were laughed off by admins. At least in a bigger district, I might have had a chance to switch schools to see if it was better. My case was so bad I begged my parents to move. We had teachers who bullied students too.

 

[feddup]

My niece just started middleschool. She told me the first day did not go good. Some girl called her fat and she said something back. She said then the girl wanted to fight! I cant believe how cruel kids are.
My niece still has some baby fat and she is gorgeous I mean, REALLY pretty.
My son is out o school now for over 10 yrs, so glad. Middle school wasnt pleasant. No, they dont stop the bullying. And in my case, when I said something one ofthe counselors said: you see your son as a victim!
I dont blame that man for going on the bus and yelling. I hope his daughter will be OK.
They really dont do these kids any good by letting them get away with picking on other kids. I know in my day, we wouldve had a good talking to but then we had more fear of adults/authorities than kids do today.

 

[ThoughtFox]

The middle-school schoolbus was a nightmare when I was a kid also.

And my own children had a few run-ins with bullies that left them afraid to go to school.

This father was out of line because he handled it when he was furious and it came across as threatening to other people's children. You just can't do that - or lay hands on anyone's children. Never. Never. Never.

But what I did when my children got bullied was that for a few days I would show up at the bus stop and confront the kids - in a calm way - and just tell them that if it happened again, not only was I going to call the school and their parents - I might even call the Sherriff.

Stopped it every time! :dance:

 

[Kat]

Snipped from the OP article.

Police said Jones not only threatened the lives of students on the bus, he also gave physical threats to the driver. Alexander said Jones felt helpless after a month of bullying suffered by his disabled daughter.

I do understand his frustration and sense of helplessness if he had indeed reported the incidences of bullying to the school officials.

I don't doubt at this time that he did, even if school says they didn't get one. They could be CYAing.

I do have issues with how he chose to address this situation. Even if it was out of frustration.

Every single child on that school bus was more than likely terrorized by the experience of having a full grown man enter a school bus and start a profanity laced tirade.

Not every child on that bus might have been an abuser of his daughter.

He also threatened physical action against the driver, not just the kids.

Excuse me? I have the deepest sympathy for this man and his daughter but it is never okay in my book to threaten a child and/or an adult with physical harm.

BTW, If it had been one of my children that was doing the abusing, they wouldn't have to worry about this man kicking their butts, I would make them wish that they had had their butt kicked instead of the discipline I would deliver. (I don't spank, but that's how I raise my kids).

But if a man got up on a bus and my children were on that bus and they had nothing to do with the situation and he was ranting profanities, and threatening to harm children on that bus and/or the driver? Although I'm not a litigious person, yes I would bring charges against anyone that subjected my child to their tirade.

I can't condone his actions. I can sympathize with his frustration but I think this could have been handled in a much better way. JMHO.

Thank god he didn't put his hands on any of those kids. He would be facing assault charges for sure.

I wonder if they have any training at that school for bullying? My kids got taught about that in almost every school they have attended.

All just my humble opinion.

 

[ohiogirl]

Damn, this just doesn't seem to be getting any better. The schools really need to wake up and STRESS to their employees, that they need to be on the look out for this sort of behavior.
I understand this dad's frustration, but I think he didn't handle it very well.
I would have to camp out in the principal's office until the offenders were suspended from the bus.
I know it is the parents' responsibility to raise responsible children, but when it is happening on school property, the school must step in.
With all of the "zero tolerance" policies these days, I can't believe that this issue is not being jumped on immediately.

 

[burbqueen]

i cant totally see my husband doing this. Totally. he is a hot head and loves his son more than anything. It would hurt him to the core if our Son was hurting. I am the calm one, but Dh nope. I would have to really try to talk some sense into him.

 

[lonetraveler]

Ok, the father has acknowledged that he did not handle the situation correctly and has publicly said that he was sorry for his actions. You have to remember by news reports that this happened in early September and after this happened that the bullying continued. Why? I would imagine that the children riding on that bus experienced a lot of stress daily from watching and most probably experiencing the receiving end of these bullies actions. If the bullying continued, why wasn't the bus driver involved in putting these juvenile delinquents off the bus? In my county when a student is fighting or bullying or committing any other prohibited acts, that student is not allowed to ride the bus to or from the school. Their parents has to figure out how to get them to school and back. This school has shown no accountability or recognized any responsibility toward protecting the students threatened by these thugs. Something is very wrong with this picture! Maybe a parent or other adult should ride the bus, sit at the back of the bus so that they can see everything that is going on and stop the bullying before someone has to suffer from it. Again, why were these thugs allowed to continue to ride this bus? or any bus for that matter? Those are the questions that need to be answered, now.

 

[lonetraveler]

They supposedly had two adults on that bus but neither once spoke English. Had do they direct the children in case of an accident if they don't speak English? The second adult on the bus should sit in the back and to end bus bullying, there is a rather simple approach I would suggest. Have the children receive a grade for bus behavior which counts along with their other grades. If they flunk "bus", their parents would have to get them to school some other way.

:furious: This is freaken unbelievable that three adults were on that bus and just allowed three punks to terrorize a helpless little girl!!!!!!!!!!!! Absolutely unacceptable. These punks continued to bully this little girl even after the incident where her father was involved. This school has a lot of explaining to do!!!!!!! Why the hell were the punks still on the bus?

 

[lonetraveler]

I think it is truly amazing that there is a video of the father coming onto the bus and confronting the punks and the bus driver for the bullying of his daughter but the school has not produced the videos showing these punk's handiwork on the bus. I bet the school will say that their dog ate the videos.

 

[tlcya]

I'm with you lone, I find the lack of any video put forth by the school, the district or the bus company save for that specific day and time when the dad went off very telling. Where is all the everyday footage? It would be rather convenient if the only time video was running was during dad's tirade.

So where's the rest of the footage in the weeks leading up to dad loosing it? Where's the footage of the little punks tossing unwrapped condoms into his daughter's hair?

 

[Wise Old Owl]

I'm with you lone, I find the lack of any video put forth by the school, the district or the bus company save for that specific day and time when the dad went off very telling. Where is all the everyday footage? It would be rather convenient if the only time video was running was during dad's tirade.

So where's the rest of the footage in the weeks leading up to dad loosing it? Where's the footage of the little punks tossing unwrapped condoms into his daughter's hair?

When this first surfaced last week - it was either HLN or FOX national - but I did see video footage of the condom being put on her head and the whole bus erupts in laughter. Guess the district was right on top of that as I have NOT seen it again. But the footage is there - someone has it.

 

[Lou Cyper]

People don't seem to care anymore.

I went to school in the 70s and it was worse. People have never cared.

These bullies think they have a right to torment someone who has already been dealt a crappy hand, they're pathetic scum but the system allows them to do it.

 

[YellowDog]

:furious: This is freaken unbelievable that three adults were on that bus and just allowed three punks to terrorize a helpless little girl!!!!!!!!!!!! Absolutely unacceptable. These punks continued to bully this little girl even after the incident where her father was involved. This school has a lot of explaining to do!!!!!!! Why the hell were the punks still on the bus?

Well, I'm incensed that they hire non-English speaking people to transport these children. How can they really know what is going on if they can't even speak the language?

 

[Wise Old Owl]

Well, I'm incensed that they hire non-English speaking people to transport these children. How can they really know what is going on if they can't even speak the language?

A huge majority of bus drivers here don't speak the language. I've seen this first hand - my DD had several bus drivers that couldn't communicate with the kids.

I called the district about this quite a few times and guess what? I was chastized, I was called a racist, I was dismissed as a "disgruntled parent". But again I ask, what happens if there is an emergency? How is this "bus driver" going to communicate with LE or the authority that shows up? It is dangerous.

Now FDLE is investigating the "transportation department" of the school district here - several nasty claims - neopitism. One guy was an employee of the district who was terminated for being "lazy" and stealing - but it seems his "family" was employed by the transportation dept so low and behold - he is now a bus driver. Yep. Welcome to urban mecca chaos.

I did hear that this district "reassigned" the driver. Oh that's real good. Give him a new bus with a new group of students - what do you think is going to go on?

And do we really have to wonder why public education in this country is the laughing stock of the rest of the world?

 

[YellowDog]

Exactly. If a bus accident occurs, who would you rather have directing your child................someone they can't understand or an English speaking person? Is English no longer the language of our country?

 

[Lovejac]

Good for you, James Jones.

I am so sorry your precious daughter has suffered at the hands of these monsters. I will keep your family in my prayers.

 

[Wise Old Owl]

Interesting today that people are now asking why after Mr. Jones apologized why haven't the bullies been made to apologize?

I think that is a great question. And I also think that the "apology" from the bullies will never happen. They are now victims (poor kids).

I still haven't heard anything about his daughter. I hope she is improving and will be ok after this horrible ordeal. It seems she has gotten lost in all of this. She was the one being bullied in the first place and I would think the first in line for an apology. But what do I know?