Civility on school bus starts at home

The yellow school bus is supposed to be haven for taking our children to class each day and then bringing them home at night.

Driven to extremes: Misbehavior on E.V. school buses

But chilling recent stories by Tribune reporters Hayley Ringle and Nicole Beyer make it clear that the school bus isn’t so safe any more. Rapid turnover among bus drivers, and students who show far less respect toward adults than past generations, are leading to a rising number of inexperienced drivers struggling to balance their task of traveling city streets while keeping both eyes on what the kids are doing behind them.

The situation is clearly out of control when a bus driver feels compelled, for whatever reason, to get into a physical confrontation with a student as happened earlier this month in the Higley Unified School District. The driver never should have touched that student.

But it’s clear from the Tribune’s reporting that more bus drivers are reaching their wits’ end on how to handle students who refuse to stayed seated and talk quietly so the driver can focus on the road.

The biggest problem is too many parents are quick to assume the bus driver must be in the wrong and coddle their youngsters’ sense of victimization if they don’t like the rules. Yes, you, Mom and Dad, are directly to blame if you aren’t teaching your children to follow the bus driver’s instructions to the letter from the moment they hit the bus steps until they exit through the front doors again.

Your child claims that the bus driver is unreasonable or mean or singles her out for mistreatment? Fine, you can join her in taking up those complaints with the driver’s boss once your child gets home. But such matters are trivial in comparison to the bus making its rounds safely and on time.

Indulge your child’s first desire to defy the bus driver, and you encourage him to do so again in a louder voice and to drag his friends into acting up as well.

Unfortunately, we recognize that many parents aren’t going to get this message, at least not in the immediate future. So school districts are going to have take additional steps to deter bad behavior among students. That was supposed to be the impact of installing video cameras, but they appear only effective at recording unruly actions for possible YouTube viewing.

Bus drivers need help now, and the quickest way would be to assign a second adult to every bus. Most East Valley districts assign such bus monitors in a limited fashion, primarily to protect special education students or to watch kids riding to alternative schools.

We admit we don’t know where districts are going to find the money to fund enough adult monitors for every bus. But the way things are going now, it’s only going to get more costly in the long run as out-of-control conditions are putting the lives of both students and drivers in danger.