Posted on 09/05/2014 11:59:23 AM PDT by matt04
It's unclear what happened before the video started, but what happened afterward one parent could only describe as "terrifying."
Video shot by a parent of a Quinsigamond Elementary School student Wednesday afternoon of what should have been a routine school bus stop showed young children crying and screaming, seemingly unable to leave the school bus they were riding in as parents shouted at the driver to let them off.
In the video, shot near the corner of Perry Ave. and Harlem Street by parent Jessica Jimenez, parents curse and shout at the driver asking why she won't let the kids off while children complain that they're unable to leave. The bus door is seen shut with some kids standing near a couple of the open windows.
...
A statement from the school department also paints a different picture of the incident.
"The driver was attempting to ensure that kindergarten students were matched with the proper parent before releasing them from the school bus," the statement reads. Parents became impatient and insisted that the driver release all the students immediately. When the driver refused, one or more parents started to enter the school bus. The driver informed them that adults are not allowed on the school bus with students on board. They refused to leave and the driver was instructed by the Durham supervisor to close the entrance door. Parents broke the door and entered the school bus."
The statement goes on to state that "the school bus driver was also physically assaulted, struck at least two times in the face."
(Excerpt) Read more at masslive.com ...
I see "Woostah" hasn't changed much.
After Columbine and recent killings, all schools are very strict and protocols are followed.
A bus driver won’t know if the adults are legit or not.
The school can be liable, too if there is a mistake.
Exactly. And tragedies like Columbine haven’t helped.
“These parents did not behave like adults. They acted like a bunch of thugs.”
Teaching kids how to handle difficult moments in life.
Scream “F@@##” at least 100 times before resorting to physical confrontation.
Me too, at 4 years old.
Ditto. I once used google to retrace the route and found it was about 1 mile. I also recall that my mom had spies along the way if I deviated much from normal route.
“Is this what the nanny state has come to? I used to walk to kindergarten on my own ferchrisake.”
You and so many more of us.
My son still doesn’t believe me when I tell him that in SIXTH Grade we were allowed to leave school grounds at lunch and go out to eat - McD’s, Pizza, etc.
Such events make all school administrations much more strict with their rules.
How much do you want to bet that if one of the kids was injured when the parents decided to pull the out the emergency exit they would blame the school.
I think that’s extremely likely.
Public schools are a 19th century paradigm that outlived it’s usefulness in the late 20th century. There is no way in he** I would send my kids to public schools today. With stuff like Kahn academy and MIT’s free learning around, it’s just stupid.
Unless I’m depending on the schools to feed and baby sit my kids, of course...
“Schools do not own the kids. Parents are in charge, not government agents who are suppose to work for them.”
If only this were true. But unfortunately, while the kids are on school property under the care of school officials, those officials can legally act in loco parentis as if they really are the parents, and the bio parents have no legal recourse.
The core of the problem in this bus situation is that the School sees a minimum-wage bus driver with minimal training who doesn’t care one bit in all likelihood about those children, is considered “in charge” and “responsible” and more “qualified” to make sure the youngsters get with the correct parent than are the non-special-ed kids who have grown up with their parents their whole lives (at least 5 years so far) and the parents who have raised them and have every dimple and freckle memorized and have invested at least 5 years of blood, sweat, tears and money into their well-being and who love them more than anyone else on the planet.
Not that I think the parents acted well at all times. I think their panic definitely contributed to their children’s cries and feelings of panic. Certainly they should have watched their mouths around all those kids. Definitely no one should have laid a hand on the bus driver no matter what. I really don’t know to what extent I blame the bus driver. He was in all likelihood following protocol as he was trained (at least until he started to drive away). The problem is clearly with the policy (see paragraph 2 above)
:: Quinsigamond Elementary School ::
WHAT!?!
That name insults, denigrates and diminishes the noble character of all Native Americans!
The name of that school MUST be changed!
While I understand and agree with that statement, it is NOT what SCOTUS has ruled. “In Loco Parentis” is the legal justification that they use.
If’n the parents don’t like it, then they ought to be taking the kids to and from school them damnselves...
So sick of such childish behavior from so-called “adults”.
Sad, but true.
There is a growing panic and fear in this country and it never dissipates — each time another child is abducted or there is a mass killing at a school.
We have lost our innocence and the kids are not allowed be kids anymore.
If I were a parent, and the driver refused to let my kid off with a reason that I considered to be inadequate, and kept my child on the bus in a manner that I thought was risky, I would have no problem entering the bus and taking my kid out the back door (though I would not assault the driver unless I was hit first).
We'd see who would do better in court: 1) Me, in my civil lawsuit against the school, the driver and the bus company with charges of kidnapping, reckless endangerment and 2 counts of intentional infliction of emotional distress; or 2) the City of Worcester bringing all those bogus charges against me, with all those kids' parents as defense witnesses and trying to convince a jury that I was the bad guy for trying to rescue my kid from an unreasonable city employee.
“I see “Woostah” hasn’t changed much.”
Worst townies in the world, told to me by my Aunt who lived there many years.
I walked myself to preschool at age three and a half. It was a mile uphill each way through two foot drifts of snow (when I was barely 30 inches tall) and signed myself in using cursive on arrival.
I can’t imagine that the school didn’t hold an orientation that would explain all of it’s policies, especially for kindergarten kids. That or send home a handout explaining the procedures to be used.
Then the parents’ wouldn’t have any right to complain..
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.