We try day after day for answers. Even though Ms. Edwards says she tried repeatedly to get help for her little girl. We get this email response from the Milwaukee Public School spokeswoman. She tells me MPS only heard about one incident back in January and that they blame Ms Edwards little girl for that fight. Since January MPS says bus 83 has been just fine.Shocking and despicable.
“We continue to monitor, and all has been quiet on this bus. Other than this single report by Ms. Edwards – which was resolved - there have been no reports of bullying on the bus by this parent or other parents, by any of the children, and no reports made by the bus driver.”
No reports of trouble. Not even from the driver. Pretty surprising considering what our cameras caught street after street, hour after hour both times we tried….
June 8, 2011
Chaos and beating on a Milwaukee school bus.
Caught on camera by a news crew.
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71 comments:
I was waiting for you to get to this.
However, I have to ask if the mother is really serious about helping her daughter out.
If I were her, I would be all over the school. Hell, I'd even ride the bus with her (she's only 4) and see what happens myself. (Can parents do that? I would think you could reserve the right if this is an ongoing problem.)
The bus driver should immediately be sanctioned for failing to control the behavior of the children on the bus, or, failing that, at least for not reporting this behavior to the appropriate persons.
Initial observation: putting four year-olds on a bus with kids old enough to clearly tower over the bus seatbacks without a monitor isn't a good idea.
Father James Groppi, Milwaukee city bus driver and civil rights activist, is turning in his grave.
These are the kinds of stories where the media actually can make a difference, particularly local media.
Hell, I'd even ride the bus with her
The act of observing a thing changes it. It very well might not happen just because mom was there, and then get ten times worse for the kid after that.
This was a lousy job by the news unit. They should have gotten a camera on the bus so you could see what was really going on.
I hope to god the 4 year old wasn't the one getting punched on the back of the bus, but honestly I can't tell the level of violence.
And E.M.'s right. Drop the kid off at school. You can't use the system's failure to justify your own. Your child is your responsibility. Jesus.
That little girl must be one of the spoiled rich kids that Garage doesn't want to see get a voucher to a safe school...
But I agree that the mom would have to be crazy to keep putting her daughter through that abuse.
This is absurd, but it's the mother who is absolutely most absurd.
What kind of evil person says Hey, my kid's getting beat up on a bus. I'll put my kid on the bus and call a film crew to have them film my kid getting beat up on a bus.
The film crew is equally depraved for agreeing to this quasi-snuff film.
I wouldn't be too hard on the driver until it's clear what he was and wasn't allowed to do. The real solution to bus chaos is not letting troublemakers on the bus. If you can't do that, what's the driver supposed to do? How do you control 60-80 kids and drive a bus? You can't, unless you can limit who gets on.
Before being too hard on the mother, the reason the kid is on the bus is because the mother can't take her child to school. That's why we have school buses. She did do something about the problem, which is why we know about this.
The solution is to make the troublemakers walk. That would make a lot of people angry, which is why the school hasn't done it. Monitoring would help, but I don't think that's the main problem. There are plenty of places where monitors aren't needed on buses. The trouble is the kids.
No big surprise, teachers and principals are some of the biggest bullies at school.
This bus driver should be fired. And the other bus drivers warned this sort of thing will not be tollerated. The older kids should be punished.
Young kids (a four year old) should be on a dedicated bus or alternatively all the little kids should have reserved seats up near the bus driver.
The bottom line is a lack of accountability. It has to start when the kids get on the bus, through the school day, and when they get off the bus.
The mom is pathetic. But that does not excuse what is going on.
As for the bus driver, he or she may not be able to discipline but they absolutely need to report and to know what is going on during the ride.
A few years ago when my daughter was in middle school another child threw a rock at her just after she got off the bus. He didn't hit her but it was close enough that it brushed her hair as it went past.
The driver and bus monitor said that they saw it but couldn't do anything since the children were not on the bus at the time. They did not report it to the school until I complained. The school did nothing.
My children have been driven to and from school since then.
The bus driver should immediately be sanctioned for failing to control the behavior of the children on the bus
In California we have yet another retarded law that the Legislators have crammed down our throats.
The school buses are now to be equipped with seat belts and head rests like you have in your car. Sounds like a good idea, right? Safe? They forced our itty bitty school district to buy one of these very expensive buses.
Well, the bus drivers HATE them. They can't see in the mirror what is happening or if the students are even wearing their seat belts. The students duck down behind the high seats and do all kinds of things, including having sex and doing drugs and the bus driver, short of stopping the bus every few minutes and strolling up and down the isle, has no control.
Let us not mention the new wonderful anti global warming catalytic converters that cause the buses to catch on fire. Two buses so far have burst into flames while on extended field trips for sporting events.
Oh. And the district can't even sell any of the old buses because the law requires them to completely destroy the perfectly good engines before selling.
Who wants a used school bus with no engine? Anyone?
/facepalm
This is what happens when you let a bunch of clueless legislatures made decisions about our lives from their ivory towers. I bet they never spoke to a bus driver or a diesel mechanic.
Yesterday, Instapundit linked to Amazon's sale on "Wearable Video Cameras."
Not exactly what I though they were going to be, but an obvious solution to this kind of thing.
If the girl were wearing a camera that was streaming live to a secure storage, there'd be none of the "he said, she said" and "kids will be kids" nonsense.
Accountability starts with objectively provable reality.
Your child is your responsibility. Jesus.
Not when the kid gets on the bus.
Belief in the ruling class - gov't solves all problems...........
Too many parents have that mentality.
Eeeee, let the tax increase for this lawsuit go on the ballot.
Let the citizens of Milwaukee pay 4 this.
Yes, you can think of things that you would do if that was your 4-year-old child, so imagine what life must be like for that poor mother. She is in an environment where things like this happen so much and the authorities she depends on are so insensitive that she herself can't figure out how to do anything.
Althouse -- I see the point. What can the woman do? It's a terrible wager she had to make. So I retract the way I thought the worst of her.
Kids today! Just kidding... back in the 70s there was lots of bullying on my bus. I had my hair set on fire. The driver did what he could. He would never have let pandemonium break out such as we see on this video, but lots of bad stuff can be done because the driver can't be looking in the mirror all the time. Many buses have video recorders these days and I think that's a pretty good solution.
Does it come as a surprise to anyone that working class blacks live terrorized by the underclass sociopaths in their midst?
At least this little girl is still alive. Some years ago, a 4 yr boy was killed in Baltimore by a stray bullet while in the barber's chair getting a haircut for his birthday party.
You want to stop the little girl from getting beat up? Just make up the story and leak it to the press that the assailants were white kids. In two days both Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton will be riding the bus with her.
Ann, while I am absolutely sympathetic to the 4 year old child, outraged by this behavior, and can understand a mother who is financially unable to do anything else--I would expect the mom to be less of a victim and more of an advocate for her child. To her credit she did get the TV news involved, so perhaps I am being too harsh on her.
Most of my outrage is to the school administration and bus driver for allowing this abuse to escallate.
In some communities they have video cameras on the bus.
I didn't watch the entire video but it may be the mother doesn't have a car or doesn't drive.
Welcome to the world of a government monopoly upon a service. Health care is already headed into the same serf's prison. Pleses notice that the government school's ONLY concern is not being bothered. Now, what is your alternative? There is none...they got you!
Two buses so far have burst into flames while on extended field trips for sporting events.
OMG!! That's insane.
I'm giving the mom the benefit of the doubt. What if she doesn't have a car or can just not take the little girl herself and no one to carpool with?
If you can't kick people off the bus, bus drivers are limited. They may just need monitors on all the buses.
To her credit she did get the TV news involved, so perhaps I am being too harsh on her.
If you've tried the school (or whatever channels are appropriate) sometimes the local news really is your best avenue for getting something done. I know somebody was talking about having a problem at a hospital getting a doctor to come see their loved one and after talking to the staff till they were blue in the face, they called the local news and got it done.
Nothing shocks me regarding MPS. It's a shithole. Actually, that's a diservice to shitholes. I apologize to all the shitholes I may have offended.
I didn't watch the entire video but it may be the mother doesn't have a car or doesn't drive.
That could mean that perhaps the mother no drivers license and therefore no valid form of ID. Connecting the dots, that could mean that she is effectively disenfranchised by Walker's bill.*
____________
*Just laying the groundwork for garage mahal's upcoming take on this story. Take it away garage mahal...
We have bus monitors here that are supposed to only function as terrorism watchdogs to protect the bus and driver. They're not allowed to monitor the children's behavior or correct them. They do anyway. I love our bus monitor.
Last year, my son had to ride the high school bus for a few months due to circumstances surrounding our move. I was extremely reluctant to put a 7 year old on a bus full of teenagers, but he rode up front with the monitor and several of the kids took him under their wing. Even sitting with him at the stop when the bus occasionally came early and I wasn't there yet. I can't imagine what type of child picks on a 4 year old girl. Absolutely despicable.
This is what happens with government monopolies. Nobody in the public school systems views parents or kids as customers.
Parents and kids are distractions from the important mission of public schools, decreasing work and increasing compensation for government employees.
We try day after day for answers. Even though Ms. Edwards says she tried repeatedly to get help for her little girl. We get this email response from the Milwaukee Public School spokeswoman. She tells me MPS only heard about one incident back in January and that they blame Ms Edwards little girl for that fight. Since January MPS says bus 83 has been just fine.
So, they asked the chidren on the bus: 'who started the fight? The big mean bullies or the defenses little girl?' (Children, in unison:) 'The defenseless little girl.'
'Ms. Edwards, it was your girl who started the fight. If she does something like this again, we may have to refer her to the juvenile system.'
I don't think his is common, but not all that unusual either, from what I have seen on passing school busses.
Both my kids walked or bicycled to school rather than ride the busses.
This they could do because I live in a reasonably quiet area, and there are bicycle paths.
This mother does not have that option, especially with a 4-year old. (Why is a 4-year old going to school, anyway?) But let that pass. In 2 years, the kid will be required to go to school, and will have to ride the bus, yet the "authorities" requiring this are not doing squat to see that the children can ride to school and back in safety.
"Why is a 4-year old going to school, anyway?)"
According to the video it's an " early chidhood development center". It's a government funded preschool.
And yes, I think my oldest would not ride the bus to avoid being bullied, and my youngest, who was made of harder material, because he was warned about "violent behavior" on an earlier occasion when he made it clear to some bullies that he was the wrong person to mess with.
When you are dealing with the school system, it's heads they win, tails you loose.
Still crying "It's the system, man!" That's right, the new Gramscian system the Baby Boomers created after they rebelled against the old bad one (you know, the old bad nasty one where the bus drivers had the authority to discipline the brats).
This is what you wanted, you asked for it and nodded approvingly every step of the way. From education unions that provide job protection for the worst-performers, to the rabid defense of the government education monopoly, to regulations that limit the interactions between adults and students, to encourage each student to find themselves and self actualize, to unearned respect and encouragement for minority cultures that have different priorities. Boomers and their "Do your own thing, man!" You broke the old system, you own the new one. Have the courage to admit it.
The driver won't be fired, the principal won't be fired, the school district officials won't be fired, the brats won't be disciplined. Mom's going to be asked to drive her daughter to school, because she's disruptive to the emergent social milieu. This. Is. Progressivism. (And Walker's standing next to a well.)
Who knew that when the Boomers were forced (Oh the Humanity!, FORCED) to read the Lord of the Flies, they took it up as a blueprint instead of a warning?
An entire generation of youth have become barbarians.
When these kids are older, they'll wreck a Boston store in Milwaukee, beat up tourists in Chicago, or beat each other at a Baltimore waterpark.
Thanks again, Democrats! This is the result of your Great Society and your War on Poverty.
I'd put this on the principal and the other parents. The principal needs to find a way, perhaps with the help of volunteers, to ensure a safe environment on these buses. Hopefully, something good comes from this exposure.
Teachers and administrators have been turning their backs on this kind of thing since the bloggress, most of the commenters here, and I were in grammar school (not together, of course).
The only question is, "What the Hell else did you expect goes on daily?".
It wouldn't have happened on my school bus. The kids had rifles.
An armed school bus is a polite school bus.
"Bus company"? Ain't privatization great? Not so much apparently.
My two thoughts:
1)If this is a pre-school program why didn't the Mom just stop the program. Hopefully she's a working mother.
2)"Soft bigotry of low expectations"
(PS Professor, the Wisconsin Department of Tourism will be none to happy with your blog today, protesters at a Special Olympics ceremony and now 4 years old getting assaulted.
Should we call in the NATO airstrikes?)
Basically the people in this system are demoralized.
This comment at the Article sounds about right:
The consequences for students are minor. A warning for up to 3 reported incidents and then it's just a couple of days suspension off the bus. And nothing if the driver doesn't write up the children who cause trouble. And you're right. For some kids it's a badge of honor to get in trouble. It's especially troublesome when you have 7th and 8th grade students on the same buses with 4 year olds. The older children should be acting as role models but instead they are teaching the youngest children how to curse and be mean to each other.
I have enough experience with bureaucratic school systems as a parent of MPS students, volunteer, parent of a schoolteacher, friend of frustrated school employees, etc. to make me think this commenter got it right.
And where is the fucking teachers union on this issue? Not their concern.
Fred4Pres said...
This bus driver should be fired. And the other bus drivers warned this sort of thing will not be tollerated. The older kids should be punished.
Do you really think an organization as dysfunctional as MPS can pull this off? Dream on--and vote for Walker next time.
The school bus beatdown is national health care in a microcosm.
For example:
41-year-old man ignored and dies in NHS hallway, nurses step over his corpse for more than ten hours, finally staff drag him away.
KenK said...
"Bus company"? Ain't privatization great?
What a stupid comment. You really think this would be better if the school district owned and ran the busses? On what possible basis?
The problem is lack of accountability. It pervades the entire district, and is a product of the political-union domination of the system for decades.
I know. I sent my kids to newly desegregated magnet schools at MPS when the desegregation orders first took effect. The schools were great. Why? Because the had been able to flush out all the old union teachers protected by silly rules, and work out a whole new set of standards and rules for these particular schools. When the unions saw what was happening, they pounced, especially after court supervision ended. Eventually the accountability eroded, leaving the mess you see today.
Liberals! I have watched liberals screw black kids for half a century, when I taught Head Start in the 1960's. Liberals and unions have made real progress impossible, and on the whole made it worse for young black kids that it was in the 1960's. And that's saying something. Shame on you liberals. Its truly shameful.
My daughter was being bullied on the bus once. The morning she told me about it, I put a rain coat on over my PJs, did not brush my hair or my teeth, and drove to the school. I collared the assistant principle, got as close to her face as possible and read her the riot act. I also said she had until that afternoon to do something about it, or I would. I was very believable. That afternoon the little shit called & apologized to my daughter.
You have to be a complete maniac sometimes to penetrate that bureaucratic apathy.
David,
Making you mad doesn't qualify as being a stupid remark. Putting students with that much difference in age, size and maturity levels is what is stupid.
The bus company could add on a monitor or at least a surveillance cam if they really cared about their mission to take the kids safely to school even though it would cost more. But then the "bus company" wouldn't make as much profit would it? Just sayin'.
That magical free market isn't solving this issue so I suppose a judge or the school board will have to step and keep the poor girl and her like from daily beat-downs even if the right wing howls to the moon. That's what conservatives never seem to get. The gov has to act when there's nobody else who can or will, which in this case there apparently isn't.
Putting students with that much difference in age, size and maturity levels is what is stupid.
That's not the bus company's fault.
It's the government's. The savior.
The mother went to the school board.
Nada
No need for a gratuitous slam on the free market.
Just sayin.
Of course, after this goes thru the courts, the MPS system may not have as much "profit."
@Seeing Red,
I hear you man.But who else is going to? The "free market" isn't. Too expensive. Who does that leave? You don't want a so-called lard-ass, overpaid, unionized monitor hired by the school board do you? But that is what is needed here unfortunately. And one way or another, that is what you're going to get. Courtesy of a lawsuit or political pressure it'll happen. Bet on it.
It's never the wrong time to do the right thing. I know people don't wanna pay more but what else is to be done? Ms.Edwards could probably get the ACLU or USDoE to file a suit right now.
It wasn't long ago that a Milwaukee Public School teacher got annoyed at a 1st grade girl clicking the beads braided into her hair. The teacher called the girl to the front of the room, and cut off that braid. The rest of the class laughed, and the girl was shocked. Not much happened to the teacher, but the student was transferred to another class. This is very difficult for students. Had I been in charge, the teacher would have been suspended with out pay, pending dismissal, and charged with assaulting a child. But the teacher was only charged with disorderly conduct, and given a fine, no jail time, and has continued teaching.
Why would any parent who loved their child allow the child to be abused by MPS? Vouchers all the way, for anybody who wants one.
I don't blame parents so much for not doing more with the school. Trying to get anything done is near impossible, you don't complain to the right person or in exactly the right way, they don't record it or do anything... and then it's the parent's fault for not telling the exact right person the exact right way and doing the proper sort of follow up in the right way because they have *programs* and they have *procedures* and they're doing all this stuff to take care of all of these problems, but if you don't know how to access that, and why should you be an expert at public school administration - the people who are have Master's degrees in making things complicated, it's your fault.
The school reports one complaint... that's one *official* complaint that they were forced to take action over and make a record of.
Doesn't say a thing about how many times this parent called the secretary.
Empower bus drivers in conjunction with a designated school administrator to ban troublemakers from using the bus. One warning, second offence you're gone. Problem solved. A bus ride to school is not a right.
" David said...
Empower bus drivers in conjunction with a designated school administrator to ban troublemakers from using the bus. One warning, second offence you're gone. Problem solved. A bus ride to school is not a right."
Actually I suspect it is. Attendance in a public school is a right, and I rather suspect riding a school bus falls under the same rules. This is one of the main reasons our public schools are dysfunctional.
Shocking?
Shocking would be to know the number, Godlike, of how many other kids were hit, !D#@!^, or verbally abused at the exact same moment.
In that city.
In that state.
In that country.
In this world.
The number of wonderful, healthy interactions surely dwarfs the previous concepts, but the helplessness and foreverness of the futility considered here still never absconds.
You don't want a so-called lard-ass, overpaid, unionized monitor hired by the school board do you? But that is what is needed here unfortunately.
That is not what is needed here. A rule of "Act bad, get kicked off the bus" is needed.
I rode the bus from kindergarten through high school. All ages on the same bus. Troublemakers got kicked off. If they were troublemakers of high school age, they got kicked off wherever the bus happened to be with no concern for how they would work out transportation back home.
I remember mild shenanigans like spitballs, but no major violence. I think two older boys got into a fight once, but the driver hauled them off and left them both by the side of the road.
"Empower the bus driver" someone says giving a perfect illustration of how private contractors try to squeeze the last drop of juice from each employee. How about if the driver just drives the damn bus (a hard enough task) and the let the "bus company" hire monitors or install surveillance cams to watch the kids? Oh wait. That'd cut into the "bus company's" profit. Never mind.
You get what you pay for. Apparently only if (god forbid) Ms. Edward's or some other kid gets hurt or worse due to this lapse will the constipated "magic" of the free market magically unclog and solve all this. Apparently the tax haters need to see the blood first.
A. I'm not a man.
B. The point is the School Board didn't.
C. The only way to "empower" the bus driver is to protect said bus driver from all lawsuits.
Which opens up another can of worms.
The bus driver can't do anything, the MPS won't.
Personally - duct tape.
Part of the problem is the children weren't raised with any boundaries at all. They're barbarians, and this generation is pretty well lost.
Not two or four or six extra staff can undo the damage in one short bus ride.
Thanks, Great Society!
Thanks, Welfare state!
This is what Democrat-life looks like!
OTOH - if the teachers & the admin - all the employees of the MPS chipped in more 4 insurance, they just might have the money for cameras.
Hey, I have an idea 4 more money!
DRILL
FRACK
Refine
On US SOIL!
Remove that stupid summer blends BS
Radical, I know.
Horrid situation. No kid should have to go through that and the lack of accountability on the part of the school is ridiculous. But you're kidding yourself if you think stuff like this is something that has only started in recent decades. And on that note...
Thanks, Great Society! Thanks, Welfare state! This is what Democrat-life looks like!
Pogo, I feel sorry for you. You really are incapable of talking about any topic without it turning into some sort of a cranky diatribe against the government, liberals or the socialists that live under your bed. It must really be hard for you to get through the day.
It is hard, somefeller. It amazes me that people can't see what I see, cannot trace back these incidents to their causes, but instead act like it's all random.
But David Mamet agrees with me, so today was a better day.
How about if the driver just drives the damn bus (a hard enough task) and the let the "bus company" hire monitors or install surveillance cams to watch the kids?
Totally unnecessary. But maybe additional government expenditure feels like going shopping for a certain sort of person.
I love David Mamet's work and he's rightfully regarded as a great playwright, but I don't think he's ever been thought of as much of a political sage, whether in his prior liberal incarnation or his current conservative one. So I wouldn't get too excited about that. But, whatever it takes to lighten one's day...
His take on the arts and leftism is fascinating.
KenK: "The gov has to act when there's nobody else who can or will, which in this case there apparently isn't."
You miss the point entirely. The government--in this case the school system--systematically fails to act. If you know anything about MPS, you will understand that accountability is out the window. They will not "empower" a school bus driver or a monitor. They can not even empower their teachers to act as disciplinarians in the classroom. Nor can they discipline teachers who deserve it. All who try to impose accountability or discipline are pulverized by a system designed to deflect accountability.
I have no problem with government action as a remedy to social problems. That's what schools are--a government enterprise providing an essential service. But the schools are failing, have been for my entire lifetime. We need to see why they are failing and fix that ruthlessly. The liberal approach has failed to do this for decades.
Freeman Hunt said it perfectly: "A rule of "Act bad, get kicked off the bus" is needed."
Unfortunately MPS has no such rule, an has no capacity to enforce rules like this if adopted. A monitor" is not going to solve the problem. Accountability is. Your kid acts up on the bus, you get to take your kid to school yourself for the rest of the year.
David said...And where is the fucking teachers union on this issue? Not their concern.
6/8/11 5:12 PM
When school kids start paying dues, the teachers unions will start looking out for their interests. A former president of the American Federation of Teachers once said as much.
Video Cameras are so cheap nowadays I don't see why they just don't mount one at the front of every bus. Lots of city buses have these now and they've helped catch a lot of thugs, not to mention document the astonishing behavior that occurs on public transit these days (no wonder no one wants to take the bus).
Still, abysmal behavior on school buses is nothing new. I remember getting into fistfights with kids on school buses 50 years ago. Even when the big kids weren't beating up on the small ones, they'd still be whooping and shrieking and making everyone miserable. Riding bus with them was like being trapped in a small room with people who were literally insane (though once they got to school they seemed relatively normal.)
The bus driver would look back in the mirror but never did anything. Twenty years later he was arrested for molesting little girls when they were alone on the bus with him.
But I still don't understand why, when you put three or four guys, together in the back of the bus, they whoop and shriek like banshees. What is the relationship between shrieking and riding in the back of the bus?
Now that I'm started getting hard of hearing I've been blaming it on turboprop engines when I was in the Navy. I'm thinking now maybe it was just riding our insane school bus for 12 years.
Pogo: But David Mamet agrees with me. . . "
What does Mamet say?
Freeman Hunt said it perfectly: "A rule of "Act bad, get kicked off the bus" is needed."
Y'all ever hear of "unintended consequences?" Schools get docked under No Child Left Untested for poor attendance. They also get docked for too many disciplinary infractions, as that indicates an "unsafe" school. I do believe we call this a Catch-22. If schools discipline students, that makes the schools safer, but too many documented disciplinary actions indicates the school is unsafe, so they don't discipline to avoid being labeled unsafe, which makes them unsafe.
Who needs fiction writers when we have government bureaucrats? Except this is so not funny.
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