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Will Femia is a Weblog enthusiast who, through good fortune and dumb luck, was introduced to the form as his position as chat producer for MSNBC.com careered into obsolescence. On any given day, Will can be found having already spent an unhealthy amount of time squinting at a computer screen.

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That girl fighting with her bus driver

Posted: Thursday, February 28, 2008 11:15 AM by Will Femia
Filed Under:

NOTE: Any cursing is mostly garbled but it's a few girls fighting so it gets pretty loud and screamy so you'll want to watch the volume if you're at work.

My colleague James sent me this video of kids fighting with their bus driver. I'd seen the story on TV but only as one of those quickie rubbernecking items they do because there's good video. I had no idea there was a full ten minute clip out there. Once I watched it my interest was piqued and I went looking for what happened next.

The girl ended up expressing some regret for being "immature." You have to wonder if this realization was encouraged by the prospect of expulsion from school.

There's an interview with the girl and her mom here. They're both disappointingly sane and reasonable sounding. Note: The video would only play for me in IE but the quality is good enough to hit the full screen button.

In case you can't hear the kid in the front calling 911, that tape was eventually released, though I couldn't find the original audio. ADDING: Here it is. There were three different calls. Actually there's lots of good coverage from that AZFamily site. (ahem)

Video links at the East Valley Tribune include some comments from the mother of the girl standing behind the central figure. Interesting to see the mother behind the girl who kept announcing that she was calling her mom who "lives around the corner."

Here's the latest update I find. Yesterday was the first day back at work for the bus driver (she's been reassigned).

Seeing how many local news sites have the full video it's much less of a mystery how it ended up on YouTube. I also see a lot of the local sites using the word "raw" to describe some of the materials they have. We don't see a lot of that in national media but I wonder if it'll be more common as local traditional media makes greater use of their Web properties (without having resources to add a lot of Web producers).

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Comments

Why are tehy recommending prosecution in this case? Seems like the perfect opportunity to actually learn from a bad expereince -- have both sides sit down and talk it out. Or do schools teach mediation and conflict resolution these days?

James (Sent Thursday, February 28, 2008 1:08 PM)

Hi Will,
I've been reading "Clicked" for a long time now, so imagine my surprise to find my neighborhood on your front page.  I don't have high school age children, however my babysitters are.  One sitter of ours is friends w/ the bus driver's daughter.  I'm a member of a neighborhood e-mail group w/ about 250 members.  The opinions are split about 80/20 w/ most of the group believing the girl should have backed down.  They had to put a stop to the arguments within the group because family members of both the driver and the girl are members of the e-mail group.  

Queen Creek, AZ (Sent Thursday, February 28, 2008 1:29 PM)

QC, thanks for that perspective. I was really impressed/amazed at the depth of local coverage and interest I found while exploring the story. I'm surprised it didn't get more national attention given the amount of available video and how provocative it is of a variety of opinions.

Will Femia (Sent Thursday, February 28, 2008 1:32 PM)

This is a tough call. I don't have children nor did I ever ride a school bus. I don't know whether it would have been easier to let the girl off and perhaps call her parents and tell them of the situation. It may have avoided the problem.

It appears the bus driver did put her hands on the girl first in the first minute of the video, but was it justified is the question. I don't know if anyone here knows what rights a bus driver has. Would the bus driver had been in any legal trouble had she let the girl get off? Would the parents have taken legal action if she allowed their daughter off?

I think the first post has the right idea. Perhaps they need to talk it out and learn from this to avoid it in the future.

Norma, Los Angeles, CA (Sent Thursday, February 28, 2008 1:49 PM)

I know that it used to be that the bus drivers couldn't let a child off the bus at any stop other than their 'normal' stop, unless there was written parental permission provided. And that if there was a rowdy/disruptive/misbehaving child on the bus, the driver was well within their rights to turn the bus around and return to the school, and turn the student in to the office. However, things may have changed in the 20+ years I rode the bus.

But, in my opinion, that child was disruptive, if not at first, then she increasingly became so, and she should have had the priveledge of riding the bus revoked. Which used to be among the punishments meted out to disruptive students. Let the parents deal with their rude and uncalled for behaviour. Oh, wait, that's part of the problem with today's youth. A lot of the times, the parents /don't/ deal with the problem, and slough it off on others, who then are very limited in their resources in dealing with the hooligans.

Barbara (Sent Thursday, February 28, 2008 7:14 PM)

Children today are out of control. That bus driver should get a raise if you ask me. Kids these days have no boundaries and feel like they can do anything they want. Just look at all the violence in schools. That kid should be put detention for inciting  riot and placed in a boot camp to clean her act up!

Mike g doylestown pa (Sent Tuesday, March 04, 2008 4:58 AM)

I think the school bus driver took the right decision
to confront the situation and stopped driving the bus. This was not a life threatning incidence.
By looking at the video the teen was rude and she
was trying to create more problems. The school bus
driver didnt do anything wrong. she stood her grounds
and tried to control the teenager. If the parents think that this is abuse then they are wrong. their
daughter need to taught good lesson.
       The bus drivers resposibility increases if
she lets her off the bus. she tried to reason with her, then the second teen started creating noises.
looks to me both the teens had some mental problems
that seemed to overcome them.
        if i had a daughter like that i would ground
her immediately. The school should suspend her.she
has no right to say bad words to the bus driver. when
her mom came up and said her daughter was hurt or
abused and she is going to sue the school, shows that
where all this is coming from.
      If she thinks that its not her daughter who is at fault, she is wrong, she will be in real trouble when she grows up and might end up in bigger
problem.She should try to control her daughter.

patrick. denver colorado (Sent Wednesday, March 05, 2008 5:27 PM)

the minute the bus drive put her hands on that child all professional decorum went out the window. As a parent I would have driven over and kicked her ass for touching my child. If a teacher touches a child the school is legally liable and the teacher more than likely would be fired. This is another example of untrained "school professional" entrusted to care for transportation of children.  The bus drive should not have confronted the child and returned to the school or wait for officers.  You as an adult should never in any circumstance put you hands on a child.  Get trained professional to deal with children!!! The parents should sue the pants off the school and bus company.  Guess what there will always be rude kids we as adults have to "mature" and deal with the situation appropriately.  

L-New York (Sent Saturday, March 08, 2008 10:18 AM)

The girl (aka spoiled brat) needs to spend a weekend in Sheriff Joe's jail in Maricopa County and experience life in the tent city along with dining on bologna sandwiches.   Maybe that will actually teach her a lesson.   That stupid stuck out spoiled brat thinks she can do whatever she wants and doesn't have to respect authority.   The girl went psycho and assaulted a school employee.   If she had obeyed the bus driver in the first place (like we did when I went to school and it wasn't that many years ago), this would not have happened.   So I say 72 hours in Sheriff Joe's jail along with some trash pickup and expulsion from school might actually teach her a lesson.   If the parents try to sue the school (and you know they will), the school should stand up to them and threaten to file a countersuit (for filing a frivolous lawsuit) if they don't back down.   As for the bus driver, I feel sorry for her having to drive such little spoiled brats around.   She should receive a pay raise.   I also say no charges for the bus driver's daughter-she has a right to protect her mom.   As for the other girl's friend-she should learn a valuable lesson from this and perhaps respect authority and quit defending her friend who obviously doesn't.  

Kevin, Victorville, CA (Sent Sunday, March 09, 2008 4:06 AM)

The girl should not have bated the bus driver, but the bus driver should have acted like a mature adult.  That is to say that the bus driver should have accepted the girl's conduct and not let it bother her to the point of stopping the bus.  The bus driver should not have prevented the girl from getting off the bus, especially by grabbing the girl, nor should the driver have thrown the girl's cell phone.  Conclusion: The girl should not have disciplined; the bus driver should be dismissed.

Murray, Alexandria, Virginia (Sent Friday, July 11, 2008 10:31 PM)



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