BusynMember
Well-Known Member
Please bear with me. I'm so upset that some of this may not make sense, but I hope you get the gist of it. God, I hope I make some sense! This is my continuing fight to get this bus driver, who is a blatant, avowed racist, off my son's bus route. Remember that she freely admitted her racism and was suspended for five days for that and a camera was put on board as a deterrent to her racist comments. Is this enough? You be the judge...haha. Boy, am I warn out. I still want her off the route. So does hub. This is long so anyone who reads the whole thing deserves a medal.
I got two educational advocates whom the Special Education Director of the school does not like because they are knowledgeable, to fight with me. We spent yesterday drafting a letter to the Superintendent. Apparently, he isn't taking hub and my complain too seriously because "it's not even a formal complaint." One of the peons who works for him slipped up and told me that. I hadn't even known about filing a formal complaint.
I called our state Department of Public Education and they sent me instructions on how to file a formal complaint. THEN they also referred me to (hehehe) the Dept. of Civil Rights in Chicago, which overseas school districts in Wisconsin too. For the first time, I really felt anger on the part of the man I spoke with. He understood completely why I don't want my son driving with this woman, even with a camera on the bus. It helped that he is AA and totally understands discrimination and he listened carefully to my concerns without brushing me off. He sent me forms too, and when the Special Education Director heard about that, he turned five shades lighter. The last thing they want is a Civil Rights inspection here. Meanwhile...
One of my advocates has a non-verbal child in a wheelchair and she was appalled that Wacky Know-it-all Bus Driver doesn't lock down the wheel chairs in the correct manner in which the chairs were made. She sort of does her own thang and won't listen to anybody AND THE BOSSES AT THE BUS COMPANY LET HER GET AWAY WITH CUTTING CORNERS. Well, my advocate e-mailed the Dept. of Health and reported that the drivers and aides on this bus are NOT trained to take care of handicapped kids, are NOT locking down the seat belts correctly, and know NOTHING about seizures. And the truth is, we had NO training on seizures, so I applaud her efforts to force this bus company and the school district to do a heck of a lot more training before throwing clueless people in a bus with vulnerable children. There are thirty or more types of seizures. Bus Driver and aides have no medical training. How are we supposed to identify a seizure? And, if we do, how do we identify which type of seizure needs a 9-1-1 phone call. This Wacky Bus Driver kept calling 9-1-1 on a nonverbal child who had seizures. The child may or may not have been having them--she didn't know (although she claims she DOES know because "I have a friend who has seizures and I looked seizures up on the internet.") Um, that's comforting, huh? She refused to bring him to school the day after she perceived he had a seizure and the teachers were up in arms insisting that he needs to go to school. His family had put him on the bus, but she insisted he was turning colors and "I don't want to go through 9-1-1 again." I think she's wacky and likes to play hero. His family was not thrilled, but they have limited English and I think she intimidates them. She intimidates everyone.
I am hoping that my fight to get her off Lucas's route is successful. I'm certainly going to bring in all I can as far as help. Lucas's social worker, who has known him forever, is going to call both the school Superintendant and the bus company and strongly express why the driver has no business driving Lucas. Her attitude is, a camera won't muzzle her. If she sprouts racism, as she already has, the damage is already done to the child. Big deal if it's caught on tape. She already devestated the child and she says, "WHy take the risk?" She admitted her racism and has not apologized nor changed her views and is a loose cannon. I'm hoping the social worker, who is quite a tough broad, can make them see how bad it is for my son, who is pretty defenseless at sticking up for himself, could be mentally damaged if she slips up. And she COULD slip up. My advocates feel I have a good chance to get what we want because the school district isn't really going to want to deal with this. My hub is involved now too and he can look pretty mean and he takes no B.S.
In the end, I hope Lucas gets a new driver and is it mean to hope the driver gets fired? I want the bus company to have to do more training for the drivers of children who are so vulnerable and in wheelchairs. I want the kids to be as safe as possible and the employees to get training (which we didn't).
When I walked off the job, I knew it would be forever before I'd get another job, if ever. I have such severe learning disabilities it is so hard for me to get work. But I couldn't just work there, and see all the violations. The bus company boss didn't want me to "talk to anyone." The last day of work, Miss Wacky Bus Driver stood over me, insisting I was seatbelting the kids in wrong. How can you seat belt kids in wrong? She is a big control freak, yet she doesn't know what she's doing so I walked out and decided to let other parents know about the miscues on the bus.
But my main concern is my own son. As God as my witness, this lady is NOT going to drive my son to school. I will fight to the end to get her off his route or else force the school district to send him by taxi at their expense. And, hopefully, this battle will result in better service for the handicapped route.
This is a lady who allowed her children's abusive husband to brain damage her son, yet she still had contact with this man and allowed him visitation. She didn't have to tell me her story, but she has no understanding of boundaries and she did. I can't bring this up at the meeting, but if she didn't protect her own child, bless his heart (he's so sweet, but he will never be more than an eight year old mentally), is she really capable of protecting anyone else's kids? WHY DOES THE SCHOOL DISTRICT AND BUS COMPANY REFUSE TO CHANGE HER ROUTE TO THE TEENAGAERS? At least the neuro-typical teens would tattle on her if she was inappropriate. The tapes on the bus are only looked at if somebody complains. How many Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) kids and non-verbal kids and "slower" kids will complainl about the bus driver??? I'm very angry. I hope I don't sound as wacky as the bus driver...lol.
Anyways, I felt I owed you an update. This is coming to an angry head. I'm so glad hub is on the same page with me.
Thanks to all my friends who read this. I so value your input and support.
I got two educational advocates whom the Special Education Director of the school does not like because they are knowledgeable, to fight with me. We spent yesterday drafting a letter to the Superintendent. Apparently, he isn't taking hub and my complain too seriously because "it's not even a formal complaint." One of the peons who works for him slipped up and told me that. I hadn't even known about filing a formal complaint.
I called our state Department of Public Education and they sent me instructions on how to file a formal complaint. THEN they also referred me to (hehehe) the Dept. of Civil Rights in Chicago, which overseas school districts in Wisconsin too. For the first time, I really felt anger on the part of the man I spoke with. He understood completely why I don't want my son driving with this woman, even with a camera on the bus. It helped that he is AA and totally understands discrimination and he listened carefully to my concerns without brushing me off. He sent me forms too, and when the Special Education Director heard about that, he turned five shades lighter. The last thing they want is a Civil Rights inspection here. Meanwhile...
One of my advocates has a non-verbal child in a wheelchair and she was appalled that Wacky Know-it-all Bus Driver doesn't lock down the wheel chairs in the correct manner in which the chairs were made. She sort of does her own thang and won't listen to anybody AND THE BOSSES AT THE BUS COMPANY LET HER GET AWAY WITH CUTTING CORNERS. Well, my advocate e-mailed the Dept. of Health and reported that the drivers and aides on this bus are NOT trained to take care of handicapped kids, are NOT locking down the seat belts correctly, and know NOTHING about seizures. And the truth is, we had NO training on seizures, so I applaud her efforts to force this bus company and the school district to do a heck of a lot more training before throwing clueless people in a bus with vulnerable children. There are thirty or more types of seizures. Bus Driver and aides have no medical training. How are we supposed to identify a seizure? And, if we do, how do we identify which type of seizure needs a 9-1-1 phone call. This Wacky Bus Driver kept calling 9-1-1 on a nonverbal child who had seizures. The child may or may not have been having them--she didn't know (although she claims she DOES know because "I have a friend who has seizures and I looked seizures up on the internet.") Um, that's comforting, huh? She refused to bring him to school the day after she perceived he had a seizure and the teachers were up in arms insisting that he needs to go to school. His family had put him on the bus, but she insisted he was turning colors and "I don't want to go through 9-1-1 again." I think she's wacky and likes to play hero. His family was not thrilled, but they have limited English and I think she intimidates them. She intimidates everyone.
I am hoping that my fight to get her off Lucas's route is successful. I'm certainly going to bring in all I can as far as help. Lucas's social worker, who has known him forever, is going to call both the school Superintendant and the bus company and strongly express why the driver has no business driving Lucas. Her attitude is, a camera won't muzzle her. If she sprouts racism, as she already has, the damage is already done to the child. Big deal if it's caught on tape. She already devestated the child and she says, "WHy take the risk?" She admitted her racism and has not apologized nor changed her views and is a loose cannon. I'm hoping the social worker, who is quite a tough broad, can make them see how bad it is for my son, who is pretty defenseless at sticking up for himself, could be mentally damaged if she slips up. And she COULD slip up. My advocates feel I have a good chance to get what we want because the school district isn't really going to want to deal with this. My hub is involved now too and he can look pretty mean and he takes no B.S.
In the end, I hope Lucas gets a new driver and is it mean to hope the driver gets fired? I want the bus company to have to do more training for the drivers of children who are so vulnerable and in wheelchairs. I want the kids to be as safe as possible and the employees to get training (which we didn't).
When I walked off the job, I knew it would be forever before I'd get another job, if ever. I have such severe learning disabilities it is so hard for me to get work. But I couldn't just work there, and see all the violations. The bus company boss didn't want me to "talk to anyone." The last day of work, Miss Wacky Bus Driver stood over me, insisting I was seatbelting the kids in wrong. How can you seat belt kids in wrong? She is a big control freak, yet she doesn't know what she's doing so I walked out and decided to let other parents know about the miscues on the bus.
But my main concern is my own son. As God as my witness, this lady is NOT going to drive my son to school. I will fight to the end to get her off his route or else force the school district to send him by taxi at their expense. And, hopefully, this battle will result in better service for the handicapped route.
This is a lady who allowed her children's abusive husband to brain damage her son, yet she still had contact with this man and allowed him visitation. She didn't have to tell me her story, but she has no understanding of boundaries and she did. I can't bring this up at the meeting, but if she didn't protect her own child, bless his heart (he's so sweet, but he will never be more than an eight year old mentally), is she really capable of protecting anyone else's kids? WHY DOES THE SCHOOL DISTRICT AND BUS COMPANY REFUSE TO CHANGE HER ROUTE TO THE TEENAGAERS? At least the neuro-typical teens would tattle on her if she was inappropriate. The tapes on the bus are only looked at if somebody complains. How many Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) kids and non-verbal kids and "slower" kids will complainl about the bus driver??? I'm very angry. I hope I don't sound as wacky as the bus driver...lol.
Anyways, I felt I owed you an update. This is coming to an angry head. I'm so glad hub is on the same page with me.
Thanks to all my friends who read this. I so value your input and support.
