The Bus

Fair warning, I'm about to unleash my fury about the bus. Let me start out by saying, my children are no angels. I'm fully aware. However, there are some REALLY rotten kids out there. Some that live right up the street from me and unfortunately ride the bus with my children. URGH!!!!

About two years ago my son and his friend had an unfortunate incident on the bus where him and another boy were coaxed by older kids, and some rotten younger ones, into kissing. Long story short, both my son and his friend were given a bus ticket (a warning in writing) and punished by having to sit away from their friends and alone on a seat. Well, being the mama bear that I am, I refused to sign the bus ticket, argued with the principal and the bus garage, and yanked all five of my kids from the bus for the rest of the year. Keep in mind that NONE of the other children involved in this incident were cited or even punished. That alone, put me over the edge!

It's two years later and I'm still stewing. Never once did my son or myself get an apology from the culprits in the neighborhood. Because my son's friends mother is a teacher at the school, she got all types of apologies. I don't like to swear on this blog, but I think that calls for a big fat Bullsh#t!

Here's where I'm going with this. It's now the third week of school and those little animals are at it again. The bus is a nightmare. There is zero supervision. My two first graders are begging me to get a ride to school, my oldest, a fifth grader, has no desire to get on there at all, and BOTH my third grade boys have complained about the same little girl trying to get my son to kiss another boy AGAIN!!! Are you kidding me?! Who teaches their kids that it's OK to bully and bribe and pick on other kids???? It's nauseating.

There will be a thorough grilling this afternoon, followed by a phone call tomorrow to the bus garage, followed by me carting my kids back and forth the rest of the school year. It's a total pain for me. But the alternative is foul language, situations young children should absolutely NOT be privy to, total chaos, lack of respect for the driver, a driver blaming ALL the wrong children, multiple drivers for the same route, and overall total mayhem. I pay my taxes! I don't want to pay for rotten teachers that hate going to work everyday or for bus drivers who can't pull it together. I have had it already! To pour salt in a very deep wound, I have eleven more years of this garbage!!!

Wouldn't it be great to say, "hey, until you fix all the crap my tax money goes to, I'm not paying you another dime!" Hell, people get fired from their jobs for less! Yet it's OK to continue to pay people for a job they aren't doing???? Reminds me of the weatherman. It's the only job in the world you can continually be wrong and still have a job. Education should not fall into this category. Transportation should not fall into this category. And most of all my children should not have to be the ones that suffer from someone else's lack of responsibility.

Something needs to be done about the buses so that our kids can get to and from school without incidents. Assigned seats, adult bus monitors, cameras, I don't care what it is. If that's what my tax money is going for, than I'm all for it. Beats me fighting with neighbors, the school and the bus garage! Not to mention saving me time and gas money. Jeez life was simpler when all I had to complain about was my babies refusing to nap!!! Bigger kids, bigger problems. Never ends!