Common sense should tell people that when someone else has your child's safety in their hands, it's something they should take seriously. Any time I've babysat or nannied for someone else's children, it's a responsibility I was honored to have because I was trusted to care for those children and keep them safe. It's even more important when that child is in a vehicle that you're driving. Such as a school bus. Right?
RIGHT???
Last week (Last couple of weeks have been not-so-good for me, notice a theme? Explains why I haven't posted as much on BBC, my mood has sucked donkey balls) I was absolutely shocked and dismayed to see Juliana's SCHOOL BUS DRIVER pull up to the morning bus stop WITH A CELL PHONE TO HER EAR as she jabbered away cheerfully. In case you didn't know, it's illegal to drive while on the cell phone in CT. It's been big news here, and people are still talking about it. I also find out that same day that the driver routinely screams at the children and tells them to shut up, that she doesn't even want them to talk. She blasts the radio so that she doesn't have to listen to them. She has also slammed on her brakes on the bus WHILE SPEEDING ON THE HIGHWAY and then pulls the bus over to rant at the children. We're talking elementary school children aged 5-10 yrs. Slammed on the brakes at full speed before slowing down and pulling over. So hard that the 5th grade girls who are my neighbors and declared themselves Juliana's protectors said that Juliana fell forward in her seat and hit the front seat with her head.
So I called the bus company and filed a complaint. I told them exactly what I saw and what the girls had told me, and they were livid. They also promised to investigate. My neighbors also filed complaints that same day.
The next day, the bus driver glared at us and refused to speak to any of us parents. 'Scuse me, ma'am, but you broke your sacred trust to take care of my child and every other child on that school bus when you broke company policy AND THE LAW. You lost my capacity for understanding when your actions physically hurt my child. You do NOT piss off The Queen or jeopardize the life of her children.
I did call for another similar complaint the 3rd day. I was then told that I'm definitely not the only one calling, and that one more complaint would get her fired. No one on my street called her again, but as of Monday, the driver has been gone. There's a shortage of school bus drivers in CT, so it was definitely serious. I wonder what the last complaint was that got her fired? There have been different drivers covering all week, up to the point where on Monday, they couldn't find a driver and so had one of the drivers complete her bus route and then go back to the school to pick up Juliana's busload of children. She didn't get home Monday until 4:15. School gets out at 3:15.
Today, Juliana was picked up by her kindergarten morning driver, and dropped off by her kindergarten afternoon driver. It was kind of nice because they know her and dropped her off right at my door!
So something good came of all of this... a seriously bad bus driver was removed from the wheel of a school bus full of children. Twice a day. YAY! Score one for the Mommeighs!
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