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School
bus chaos worsens
Students, drivers, officials agree troublemakers are ruining the ride
Greenville News
They spit, they cuss, they bully and they throw things at cars and people.
They're unruly school bus riders, and the chaos they create -- despite an attempt to trick them into good behavior with hidden video cameras -- is getting worse, according to students, drivers and administrators.
Rowdy riders are adding to the challenge of recruiting drivers in Upstate school districts where growth continues to increase ridership and strain bus routes. About 24,000 Greenville County students are transported to school each day, an increase of 2 percent from last year.
"I don't see how they do it," Blue Ridge High senior Kaceta Brown said of bus drivers. "It can get hectic."
Greenville County School District officials said they don't keep track of bus disciplinary action but the problem has become a growing concern. And a state legislator has proposed a law requiring chaperones on every bus carrying kindergartners through sixth-graders.
Bill Henry, 40, who drove school buses as a teen-ager, got behind the wheel again about three years ago for one reason -- his daughter, who he describes as a "a meek fourth-grader," was targeted by bus bullies. "I've seen a lot of things, some very dangerous behavior."
Middle schoolers are the worst, said Henry, who parks the 28,000-pound bus near his home on Pettigru Street. "They want to fight, show their individuality and press their limits."
Brown, who rides from Travelers Rest to school each day, said the most rambunctious riders sit toward the back. "They throw paper balls up to the front and hit people in the head."
Michael Sutton, assistant principal at Blue Ridge, says he's heard it all. "We've had all kinds of problems -- fighting, picking on other kids, throwing paper, bringing food on the bus, trashing the bus," he said.
Frances Poole, 50, who has been driving school buses for 16 years, said yelling, hitting and name-calling often take her eyes off the road, especially when her bus is at full capacity with 70 students.
"When someone's hollering, you have to see what's going on," she said. "Because if something happens, parents want to know why you didn't see something happen. But I cannot see everything that goes on on that bus."
Poole said she often pulls to the side of the road to investigate fractious conduct. "I pulled over twice yesterday afternoon,A she said. "If you see something that's going to happen, you have to try to prevent it."
Why all the bus upheaval?
"It's compacted space, and everybody is just getting out of school and all excited. You're all cooped up in the classroom all day long and you can't talk, and then you get on the bus and it's like, 'Woo! Freedom!'" Brown said.
Camera boxes placed on most buses were supposed to help. But only about 20 of the boxes on the district's 300 buses contain a video camera. Most rowdy students know their chances of getting captured on tape are slim.
"On our bus, people pretty much know that it's just a box," Brown said. "They don't care."
Sutton said the cameras have been of little help.
"I've yet to have a bus driver come in and say, 'I got it all on tape,'" he said.
But district officials insist the cameras have cut down on student scuffles and outbursts by providing a means of accountability -- hard evidence they can show to parents.
A 1997 video resulted in the suspension of four League Academy students who were banned from their bus. One student pelted the driver with broken pencil parts, while others erupted with excessive noise.
The cameras cost about $700 apiece. Arming all Greenville County buses with cameras would cost about $196,000.
Skip Fredricksen, director of transportation for the school district, said it would be impractical to install cameras on every bus because of the manpower required to maintain the equipment and view the tapes.
"You wouldn't want the drivers to do it, because you may want to see what they're doing (on the tape)," he said.
But Sutton said it would cost less in the long run to install cameras than to hire bus monitors.
Rep. Bessie Moody-Lawrence of York has introduced a bill that would require school buses transporting students in grades K-6 to have an adult passenger to serve as a school bus monitor and enforce bus etiquette.
"It's quite a responsibility driving a whole bus load of children,A said Moody-Lawrence, who teaches at Winthrop College in Rock Hill.
Safety on school buses is as important as safety in schools, she said.
"A child can be isolated on the school bus," she said. "That stress that starts right there on the bus can affect the child's performance in school."
If the bill passes, monitors would be required to have a valid South Carolina driver's license and would earn at least minimum wage. Several issues have to be discussed, including how much it would cost to hire hundreds of monitors across the state.
Sutton said he doubts many would accept minimum wage to help keep bus manners in check. "If they're going to be realistic about it, they're going to have to come up with more money than minimum wage," he said.
Ruth Butler, 59, a bus driver for 21 years, said low pay -- starting at $7.56 an hour -- contributes to the driver shortage. She said she believes more bus drivers would continue driving if they had monitors by their side.
"I believe they'd stay if they had help with the kids," said Butler. Stephanie Erickson can be reached at 298-4803.
Heading home: Children get on the bus for home at Baker's Chapel Elementary School. One school district driver, who took the job to protect his daughter from bus bullies, says middle schoolers are his biggest problem.
Students, drivers, officials agree troublemakers are ruining the ride
Greenville News
They spit, they cuss, they bully and they throw things at cars and people.
They're unruly school bus riders, and the chaos they create -- despite an attempt to trick them into good behavior with hidden video cameras -- is getting worse, according to students, drivers and administrators.
Rowdy riders are adding to the challenge of recruiting drivers in Upstate school districts where growth continues to increase ridership and strain bus routes. About 24,000 Greenville County students are transported to school each day, an increase of 2 percent from last year.
"I don't see how they do it," Blue Ridge High senior Kaceta Brown said of bus drivers. "It can get hectic."
Greenville County School District officials said they don't keep track of bus disciplinary action but the problem has become a growing concern. And a state legislator has proposed a law requiring chaperones on every bus carrying kindergartners through sixth-graders.
Bill Henry, 40, who drove school buses as a teen-ager, got behind the wheel again about three years ago for one reason -- his daughter, who he describes as a "a meek fourth-grader," was targeted by bus bullies. "I've seen a lot of things, some very dangerous behavior."
Middle schoolers are the worst, said Henry, who parks the 28,000-pound bus near his home on Pettigru Street. "They want to fight, show their individuality and press their limits."
Brown, who rides from Travelers Rest to school each day, said the most rambunctious riders sit toward the back. "They throw paper balls up to the front and hit people in the head."
Michael Sutton, assistant principal at Blue Ridge, says he's heard it all. "We've had all kinds of problems -- fighting, picking on other kids, throwing paper, bringing food on the bus, trashing the bus," he said.
Frances Poole, 50, who has been driving school buses for 16 years, said yelling, hitting and name-calling often take her eyes off the road, especially when her bus is at full capacity with 70 students.
"When someone's hollering, you have to see what's going on," she said. "Because if something happens, parents want to know why you didn't see something happen. But I cannot see everything that goes on on that bus."
Poole said she often pulls to the side of the road to investigate fractious conduct. "I pulled over twice yesterday afternoon,A she said. "If you see something that's going to happen, you have to try to prevent it."
Why all the bus upheaval?
"It's compacted space, and everybody is just getting out of school and all excited. You're all cooped up in the classroom all day long and you can't talk, and then you get on the bus and it's like, 'Woo! Freedom!'" Brown said.
Camera boxes placed on most buses were supposed to help. But only about 20 of the boxes on the district's 300 buses contain a video camera. Most rowdy students know their chances of getting captured on tape are slim.
"On our bus, people pretty much know that it's just a box," Brown said. "They don't care."
Sutton said the cameras have been of little help.
"I've yet to have a bus driver come in and say, 'I got it all on tape,'" he said.
But district officials insist the cameras have cut down on student scuffles and outbursts by providing a means of accountability -- hard evidence they can show to parents.
A 1997 video resulted in the suspension of four League Academy students who were banned from their bus. One student pelted the driver with broken pencil parts, while others erupted with excessive noise.
The cameras cost about $700 apiece. Arming all Greenville County buses with cameras would cost about $196,000.
Skip Fredricksen, director of transportation for the school district, said it would be impractical to install cameras on every bus because of the manpower required to maintain the equipment and view the tapes.
"You wouldn't want the drivers to do it, because you may want to see what they're doing (on the tape)," he said.
But Sutton said it would cost less in the long run to install cameras than to hire bus monitors.
Rep. Bessie Moody-Lawrence of York has introduced a bill that would require school buses transporting students in grades K-6 to have an adult passenger to serve as a school bus monitor and enforce bus etiquette.
"It's quite a responsibility driving a whole bus load of children,A said Moody-Lawrence, who teaches at Winthrop College in Rock Hill.
Safety on school buses is as important as safety in schools, she said.
"A child can be isolated on the school bus," she said. "That stress that starts right there on the bus can affect the child's performance in school."
If the bill passes, monitors would be required to have a valid South Carolina driver's license and would earn at least minimum wage. Several issues have to be discussed, including how much it would cost to hire hundreds of monitors across the state.
Sutton said he doubts many would accept minimum wage to help keep bus manners in check. "If they're going to be realistic about it, they're going to have to come up with more money than minimum wage," he said.
Ruth Butler, 59, a bus driver for 21 years, said low pay -- starting at $7.56 an hour -- contributes to the driver shortage. She said she believes more bus drivers would continue driving if they had monitors by their side.
"I believe they'd stay if they had help with the kids," said Butler. Stephanie Erickson can be reached at 298-4803.
Heading home: Children get on the bus for home at Baker's Chapel Elementary School. One school district driver, who took the job to protect his daughter from bus bullies, says middle schoolers are his biggest problem.