I just listened to a horror show that took place on a school bus recently. It was on the special needs bus where they have both a driver and an assistant. Of course, the driver drives. That is their responsibility.
The assistant keeps an eye on the kids.
In their infinite wisdom, the school put a 70 something old woman in the assistant slot.
She found herself in a wrestling match with one of the special needs kids that decided he didn't want to be on the bus anymore and figured that the emergency exit was the fastest way off the bus.
The kid was swinging and somehow the old woman managed to turn a boxing match into a wrestling match, much to her credit. Personally I would have just smacked the kid using the minimal amount of force needed to change his behavior. Of course, I would have been immediately fired but then again, I don't need the money. Maybe she does.
She explained to me that they were issued 'punching pads' to put between them and the attacking kid. This supposedly protects the assistant and allows the kid to expend his energy.
It also serves to reinforce the kid's belief that hitting is OK because there are no consequences for their poor behavior. In short it encourages poor behavior.
Special needs or no special needs, I don't care. Kids need discipline and even though some are slow learners, being brought up short a few times will make any kid decide that hitting someone isn't a very good idea.
As it was, the old woman on the bus kept the kid from bailing out and managed to get him seated and stayed between him and the escape hatch but the fact remains that she should never have been put in this position to begin with. Had the kid been a year or to older the woman might have wound up taking second place or she would have had to put on brass knuckles and knock him out. Had it been the latter I would have defended her. Nobody loses their right to self-defense.
The whole thing was wrong in so many ways.
Why was a fairly small old woman put in that position to begin with? Why was a kid with a history like that even allowed on the bus? Why do they feel that a 'punching pad' is adequate protection?
Special needs kids seem to be a sacred cow and Piccolo doesn't believe in sacred cows. Sorry about that. If the kid is incapable of behaving then put them off the bus immediately and call the parents and give them their kid's location. It the kid has a history of not behaving then don't let him board to begin with. (Needless to say, this is not permitted although it ought to be.)
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Back in the mid 80s I was living in an Alaskan small town and there was a woman that foster cared for a number of Down's kids. Frankly I think she did this because she had an overwhelming 'need to be needed' but that's neither here nor there. Frankly I thought she was a PITA so I tended to avoid her.
Anyway one of the boys she was attending to was pretty much untrainable and when he reached puberty he'd start publicly masturbating whenever he felt like it.
Needless to say, the police got calls and the woman promised to keep an eye on things and yada yada yada.
Anyway, one day she wasn't paying attention and the kid whipped it out in front of a father/daughter and dear old dad went through the roof as to be expected.
I never got the details most likely because I wasn't interested but IIRC the end result was the father got charged with disorderly conduct and got a $5 fine or some damned thing. Personally I think the reason the police charged the guy was to protect him from being charged with something serious further down the line.
I don't know what happened afterwards but I don't think she took the kid with her in public much, if at all afterwards.
I do remember her telling someone else that "It wasn't fair and
yada yada yada" but she was the responsible adult that didn't do her job.
Tango Sierra.
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As for the bus driver's assistant?
Give her a can of Mace. She has a right to defend herself, just like everyone else.
Two points of interest: -1, many bus drivers and assistants tend to be older, retired people. It is a good part time job for someone that is already retired, but needs a bit of extra income. Due to the split schedule, it really does have to be someone with nothing else to do all day. Most local school districts give the bus crew the school health plan, as an extra incentive.
ReplyDelete-2, No. Do Not deploy mace on the bus. Everyone around the perp will get secondary exposure, and the whole bus will need deconned. Good way for the school to get sued.
You're probably right about pepper spray on an enclosed area like that. More news has been received and the entire situation seems to be a series of bad decisions on the supervisors.
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