<p>I logged on to CC to hear what everyone had to say about this incident and was surprised to find no mention of this. Moderators, if I just can’t locate it but it is here, please direct me! This is a big topic of discussion on the West Coast.</p>
<p>I read about it, but did not watch the video, couldn’t stand to. It is just appalling. If one of my kids was involved in something like that, they would either be home schooled until they learned how to behave in public, or would be accompanied by a parent wherever they went. Unfortunately there are bound to be at least a few “boys will be boys” parents out in that mix, but I hope at least a few of the parents of those kids will step up to the plate and let their kids know how appalling their behavior was and find a way to teach them how to be decent human beings.</p>
<p>Watch the video. All bloody 10 minutes of it. </p>
<p>What goes around…</p>
<p>Those kids had no respect what so ever. Me thinks we should go back to the days where such behavior would earn said student a paddle from the principal. That would stop it for sure.</p>
<p>From hearing it, I think there were girls as well (though maybe the little buggers have high voices). I was appalled at this behavior and hope that the parents of these kids are ashamed and are going to do something about this behavior. Growing up in a small town certainly had its advantages when I was growing up due to the shame factor. </p>
<p>I think the shool should discipline the students and it shoudl be more than a detention.</p>
<p>I never rode a bus to school; neither did my kids, but I think there is a “bus dynamic” (for lack of a better word). Kids realize pretty quickly that there are very few adults compared to lots and lots of kids. The driver isn’t going to take his attention away from driving; the bus monitor really can only discipline kids with her voice. We were behind a school bus on a thruway once and I saw one kid beat up another kid at the back of the bus. Just wail on him. I don’t know if any of the adults even knew what was going on.</p>
<p>A poster on reddit opened an indiegogo donation page requesting donations ($5000 goal) to send the bus monitor on vacation. Donations now total more than $450,000 and counting. This bullying incident has really struck a chord with people.</p>
<p>Those kids should be kicked off the bus and let their parents figure out how to get them to school. I bet they are obnoxious in class too.</p>
<p>If these kids were doing this to an adult, imagine how they treat each other.</p>
<p>Junior high bus was one of the most nightmare-ish experiences of my life. I still feel sick thinking about it.</p>
<p>Wow, just wow. It is one thing if kids bully one another (terrible too), but I can’t fathom kids acting and saying what these kids did to a senior citizen! It is incredible. I think it is even unusual for a kid to talk to a senior citizen this way. At least I hope it is! </p>
<p>She did a good job ignoring them and not feeding into it. </p>
<p>I will say, however, that in her role as a bus monitor, I am surprised she took no actions and came across as just a passenger on a bus. I would have thought a bus monitor would get up and act authoritative and let the students know they will be reported for X consequences and if it continued, then Y. And if they did not stop, she would then separate them on the bus, and move them away from her as well. Perhaps even tell the driver to stop the bus until the boys stopped immediately. I’m not sure what bus monitors do but as a former teacher, I would be doing those things. </p>
<p>However, none of that matters in terms of this horrific behavior by the students who hopefully will be disciplined in the strongest manner possible. If I were their parents, I would feel such shame in the community and make sure these kids had consequences at home and also made amends to this woman. </p>
<p>The video is appalling. I wonder how this video was shot as it was directed right at the bus monitor’s seat.</p>
<p>I don’t know what kind of training they get or what they are allowed to do but I agree that she should have pushed back, had the bus driver stop and then they could deal with the problem together. If they couldn’t manage things, then they could have called the police.</p>
<p>I haven’t seen the video but I don’t think that I want to from the descriptions that I’ve read.</p>
<p>Major news outlets have verified that the donation page for Karen Klein is legit. Donations now total almost $500,000! Many comments are from people who donated because they were bullied, or because they knew someone who was bullied. Google “Karen Klein indiegogo” to find the donation page and read the heartwarming comments.</p>
<p>Typical awful middle schoolers. And completely ineffectual monitor. Why would a school system put someone like her in that position? Anyone who deals with middle school students needs to know how to knows that passivity does not work.</p>
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<p>musicamusica…well, I HOPE they are NOT typical. I understand middle school behavior but really cannot imagine it is typical for students to berate face to face a senior citizen to the level that these kids were doing. The things they said and even poked her did not seem usual to me. They might do that with one another but with an older lady? I’ve been a teacher and have not seen this. </p>
<p>I agree the monitor was ineffectual and came across as merely a passenger with no job role.</p>
<p>Her passivity was probably due to long term bullying - she had given up. I didn’t assume this was her first day on the job.</p>
<p>A person her age is working because she needs the money, so she shouldn’t be judged.</p>
<p>Ave. family income in Greece, Ny is 54K.</p>
<p>Well of course she needed the money. But lets face it, passivity does not work in this situation. I’m thinking violent ex-cons would be more suitable for keeping middle schoolers in line.
This has been a point of discussion in our home recently since one of D’s current jobs is teaching music to middle schoolers in one of the most elite private schools in Los Angeles. She is utterly shocked by the stories that some of the bullied kids are telling her. She also interracts with the kids who she knows are the bullies. She says that the nasty little bullies are just as sweet as pie when they are around her…unless you were the object of their attentions, you would have no idea whatsoever as to what little monsters they really are.</p>
<p>The kid who shot the video said he did it because he had seen a lot of similar videos on You Tube and thought they were cool and wanted to be part of it (or something to that effect). It wasn’t clear to me if he was part of the action or just in the “right place” to have his dreams come true.</p>
<p>I had hoped the person who shot and posted the video did it to shame the perpetrators . . . guess I was naive.</p>
<p>I agree with Susan, I don’t think this is typical behavior at all, certainly not of all middle school-aged kids. My Ds road a schoolbus for part of their schooling and I don’t recall any behavior issues being a problem. One of my Ds is a teacher at a school where the vast majority of kid are bussed. Anyone misbehaving is given a warning letter home to the parents. A second offense means that they have to find their own transportation for the remainder of the year. They don’t have bus monitors. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of bus monitors before reading this story a few days ago. It was a man from Toronto who started the fundraising site so it’s been in the news here all week.</p>
<p>She has said that she’s hard of hearing and would have gotten a lot more upset if she knew everything that was said. She did hear and feel plenty, though. Did she report the students before this went viral? </p>
<p>We don’t know if being so passive is Karen’s normal MO, though it appears that way in the video. She knew the scene was being filmed because she commented about the camera. </p>
<p>But yes, she was way too passive for the situation.</p>